


Life and Times at Ash Cabin

by tabjoy13



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Powers, Alternate Universe - Summer Camp, Dai-nana-han | Team 7 (Naruto) Feels, Gen, Hatake Kakashi-centric
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-18
Updated: 2021-01-18
Packaged: 2021-03-16 19:54:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 22,159
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28836657
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tabjoy13/pseuds/tabjoy13
Summary: This is just a fun little camp story that I’ve been working on as a writer’s block story since 2016. I figured I should finish it since all the stories that I needed writer’s block help on are now finished. Cross posted on FF.net.
Relationships: Haruno Sakura & Hatake Kakashi & Uchiha Sasuke & Uzumaki Naruto
Comments: 5
Kudos: 18





	1. Chapter 1

“Now if you need anything you can just call. There’s a phone in the registration building,” Iruka smiled down at his adopted son.

Naruto laughed, “yeah yeah, I know. We went over this a hundred times, I’ll be fine.”

Iruka reached to grab the boy’s duffle bag. However, Naruto had already snatched it up and was sprinting toward the registration building. Iruka’s eyes widened. “Hey wait, hold on Naruto!”

Naruto pushed past a boy with black hair. “Sorry,” he called out without turning.

Sasuke frowned in irritation. His mother just smiled. “It’ll be alright Sasuke. You’ll have a good time; I’m sure of it.”

“I still don’t know why I couldn’t go to Itachi’s camp,” Sasuke pouted.

The dark-haired woman smoothed out his hair but Sasuke squirmed away from her touch. “This will be a good experience for you. You’re going to make so many friends!”

A couple of cars down from where Iruka and Naruto had parked, a girl with pink hair climbed out of a van. Her eyes followed the boy with dark hair. She squealed. “This is going to be the best summer ever!”

000000

“ _This_ is his camp counselor?” Iruka balked as he looked over the teenager before him. Despite the heat, Naruto’s assigned camp counselor wore a hoodie with the camp logo stamped on the front. The blue hood was pulled up, shading most of his face.

They were in a small building that served as office and registration building. The walls were unfinished wood, giving the room a log cabin feel. The camp director and her assistant sat behind a wood desk on metal folding chairs. The counselor leaned against the far wall, looking bored. He was a far cry from the smiling counselor pictured on the brochure Iruka was still clutching, along with Naruto’s completed paperwork.

A grunt from the camp director, a fierce-looking blonde woman, made the counselor sigh. He obediently straightened up and pulled the hood off. His shaggy silver hair fluffed out.

 _As if the hood made any difference,_ Iruka thought as he took in the teenager’s still-concealed face. The adolescent wore sunglasses that completely obscured both of his eyes. Over his nose and mouth, the counselor wore a cloth mask that hooked behind his ears. Iruka also noticed a walkie talkie clipped to the teen’s pants’ pocket. The lack of a red light indicated it was either off or the battery was dead.

“Um,” Iruka began, not wanting to be rude, “what’s with the mask?” He looked from the counselor to the director, not sure whom he should ask.

“I have mono,” the teenager grunted unconvincingly.

The camp director rolled her eyes. When she caught Iruka’s look she straightened up and whispered, “he’s a little odd but Kakashi’s responsible and perfectly capable of doing his job. He is, to be frank, the best counselor we have.”

Iruka had been fed that line before, only the best for your child! He looked at the “best counselor” again. If the teen heard, or cared about, the compliment he didn’t show it. For all Iruka could tell, the youth was asleep.

Iruka considered taking Naruto home but the boy was already circling his would-be counselor. “This is so great! What are we going to do this summer Kakashi?! Can I call you Kakashi? Do you really have mono? How’d you get it? Are you contagious? We drove by a lake on the way here. Can we swim in it? Are you going to teach me how to swim? I already know of course but I’m not very good. Dad says that it’s because I flail around too much. Where’s our cabin? Can we go see it? When’s dinner? I’m starving!”

Iruka quickly lost track of Naruto’s questions, as often happened. He usually tried to answer as quickly as he was asked so as not to get lost in the onslaught. He began to rub his temple but he had a smile on his face. Responsible though he may be, Iruka wondered how this laid-back teen would handle Naruto.

Iruka opened his mouth to apologize for his son when the teenager spoke, making Iruka’s jaw drop. “Arts, crafts, swimming, hiking, campfire stories, and brief survival exercises, yes, yes, none of your business, not to you, yes, yes, to the southeast, yes, five in the afternoon.”

Iruka blinked in shock and the camp director smiled. “Completely capable,” she said again.

Naruto hugged Iruka. “I love you Dad; see you in two weeks!” The blonde darted off to explore the campsite.

The camp director turned to her employee. “Don’t run off Kakashi, you need to meet your other campers.”

Kakashi had his hands in his pockets and stared blankly ahead through his sunglasses. He was as immobile as a tree and looked incapable of “running off”. Despite his clear and orderly answers to Naruto’s questions, the counselor still looked half asleep. Then again, Iruka considered, if Kakashi could keep up with Naruto looking that calm, maybe he was the exact counselor Naruto needed. Iruka turned back to the camp director. Her secretary pointed out where to sign on what form.

Iruka followed Naruto outside to give him one last hug as Sasuke and then Sakura arrived. After being introduced and looking Kakashi over, Sasuke turned to his mother with an incredulous look. “He’s barely older than we are,” Sasuke’s voice cracked on the final word. 

His mother chuckled, “he’s quite a bit older, old enough to drive at the very least.” She made eye contact with the camp director and Tsunade nodded her confirmation.

Sasuke turned back, squinting at Kakashi’s covered face. “How can you even tell?” Glassy black lenses looked back at the squeaking tween. 

“Our counselors can start at age 16. Kakashi has been a counselor for two summers already,” Shizune smiled kindly.

Sakura, who was behind Sasuke and his mother in line, blushed. _The counselor is much older than me but this boy looks so grown-up. It’s no wonder he thinks they’re the same age._

Suddenly an orange and yellow blur zoomed back into the room, narrowly avoiding a counselor who had also been making her way into the building. Kurenai straightened her hair, staring after the ball of energy with one eyebrow raised. However, when the blonde was suddenly glued to Kakashi’s side she couldn’t help but chuckle to herself. _Kakashi is going to hate this session._

“Alright, let’s go you three,” the masked counselor said. The camp director handed him a file over the head of the next campers who’d just arrived. He took it and led his new campers outside.

The counselor flipped the file open and read it quickly. Naruto jumped up and down next to him, trying to read it around his elbow. After a moment Kakashi spoke, “we’re in Ash Cabin. Follow me, all of the cabins are this way.”

“Ash Cabin? What’s that supposed to mean?” Naruto asked.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. “This is Hidden in the Leaves Summer Camp. I imagine there is a tree theme. Ash is a type of tree.”

“Oh,” Naruto said scratching his head.

“Wow, you’re really smart!” Sakura beamed. Then she blushed when Sasuke looked at her in surprise.

He raised an eyebrow, “it’s not that hard, anyone could have figured it out.”

The girl wilted.

Thankfully Naruto broke up the awkward moment with a cry of joy at seeing their cabin. “Wow, is this it Kakashi? This is awesome!”

The all-wooden structure had a small porch that was collapsed on one side. The screen door had a hole in it the size of a baseball and the paint around the door and windows was peeling. The log cabin was topped with mismatched shingles.

Sakura frowned but looked to Sasuke for direction on her reaction. Naruto’s reaction had been so positive while she had been immediately put off. Maybe there was something she was missing. However, Sasuke quickly cleared that up. “Are you kidding? This place looks like it’ll fall down at any moment.”

“Yeah,” Sakura said. Then she frowned, trying to come up with something intelligent to say about it. The conversation moved on without her.

Kakashi shrugged, “it’s held up fine so far.” He reached out and rubbed the sign next to the door, tracing the letters A, S, and H with his thumb. “The porch is sideways because one year we caught a wolf and tied it to that post on the far side. It tugged itself free, pulling that end of the porch down with it.”

Sakura’s eyes widened and even Sasuke looked impressed. Naruto just stood there, mouth hanging open. “Really?” The blonde breathed.

Kakashi shrugged, “yeah, sure.” He pulled the screen door open, pushed in the storm door, and went inside.

This left the three campers outside, confused. “Wait, what? Did you just make that up?” Naruto protested but the screen door had already swung shut.

The inside, as least, seemed passable. The wooden floors had been freshly swept and there wasn’t a cobweb in sight. Six cot style beds lined both sides of the wall and each bed had a locker next to it. Sakura opened one suspiciously but no crawlies lurked inside. Opposite the door was a water stand. Several gallons of extra water sat to the side of it. 

“The outhouses are out back,” Kakashi said as he saw Sakura eyeing the water stand. “Showers are in the back of the grand tree house…also known as the mess and rec’ hall. If you want to go all the way over there to go to the bathroom that’s your business.” Kakashi then flopped down on the cot closest to the door. He reached for a book that was sitting on his trunk but Sakura interrupted him.

“Could you show us the recreation and mess hall?” The girl was already dancing a bit, trying not to cross her legs.

“Yeah,” Naruto said. “I’m starving!”

“I doubt it. You may be famished, but not starving. Come on,” Kakashi sighed. He sat up and led his campers out of the cabin. They left their duffle bags behind on their trunks to be unpacked later.

“Hey Ibiki,” Kakashi called, waving at a giant man as they entered the mess hall. The man was standing in a kitchen behind a counter at the far end. Even from their distance he looked huge. He had an abnormally scarred face and a red polka dot bandanna covering his head. “What’s for supper tonight?”

The giant grunted so loudly that Sakura jumped back. “Hamburgers. It’s Monday Kakashi, you know that.”

“Sure I do, but my cute little campers don’t,” Kakashi said. He might have been smiling but Sasuke wasn’t sure. Even indoors the counselor wore his sunglasses.

After going through another door, Kakashi lifted a hand in a lazy gesture but there was no need to explain this area. The sound of running water echoed off of the cinder blocks that made up the room. There were drains at every dip in the tiled floor. As they entered they could see large passages to the left and right but directly ahead of them were very clear signs stating “Men” and “Women”. Sakura sprinted toward the Women’s side, disappearing around the corner in a smear of pink. Sasuke shrugged and went into the Men’s side. Naruto stayed bouncing at Kakashi’s side while the other two finished.

As the two campers rejoined their cabin group another group arrived. There was a counselor with spiky black hair that he’d attempted to slick back. He was trying to grow a beard but failing miserably, with patches coming in on his cheekbones and neck but nowhere else. The counselor was accompanied by a boy with a spiky pony tail and a rounder boy with mousy brown hair. The girl with them had long blonde hair which Sakura admired immediately.

“Kakashi,” the counselor greeted, “these your campers for this session?”

Kakashi shrugged. “It looks that way.”

“Great, listen, would you watch mine for a sec?”

A single silver eyebrow rose above the level of Kakashi’s sunglasses. The slight movement was an annoyed question.

“Come on, it’ll just be for a second!”

The mousy-haired boy spoke up. “Where are you going Asuma?” The boy looked like he was about to get upset. Perhaps because he was feeling homesick already.

The dark counselor scratched the back of his head, trying and failing to laugh. “Oh nowhere, just need to check something out is all.”

“If that’s all you’re doing then we can go with you,” the boy with the ponytail muttered around a yawn.

Meanwhile the blonde had struck up conversation with Sakura. “Is your counselor as weird as mine? Maybe we can switch?”

Sakura eyed Kakashi suspiciously. “It’s kind of hard to tell, he doesn’t say much.”

“At least he isn’t leaving you guys someplace,” the blonde said as they watched Asuma rush out the back door.

The campers couldn’t see Kakashi’s eyes but it was clear from the tilt of his head that they were rolling. The silver-haired teen crossed his arms and slouched against a wall. Since they clearly weren’t going anywhere, the campers decided to introduce each other.

“I’m Ino by the way,” the blonde girl said. “That one’s Shikamaru,” she pointed at the boy with the ponytail. “And that one is Choji,” she pointed at the mousy-haired boy who waved in response. Shikamaru ignored them.

“I’m Sakura,” the other girl said brightly. She knew Sasuke’s name but not the blonde boy’s. It would be rude to introduce one and not the other, so she trailed off.

The blonde boy jumped forward, grin on his face. “I’m Naruto!” He looked expectantly back at the dark-haired boy.

“Sasuke,” the boy grunted.

Ino gave Sasuke a bright smile before returning to Sakura. “There are supposed to be other campers too right? In the 11-12-year-old session? Asuma said that our session is small but this can’t be it.”

Sakura shrugged. “I haven’t met anyone else, but we’ve only just arrived.” She attempted to put Sasuke in the same category as herself to assert dominance.

“Oh?” Ino replied, unconvinced. She glanced at Sasuke, hoping he’d chime in. No such luck.

“I just got here too! Isn’t this place cool? We’re going to have the best summer camp ever,” Naruto crowed.

Ino grimaced as Naruto’s loud voice echoed around the concrete interior. “Un-huh,” she replied, only half-looking at Naruto.

Naruto frowned and said nothing else. That’s when Asuma returned.

“Back already?” Kakashi asked. He hadn’t moved, in fact he looked like he’d fallen asleep against the wall. “Did you find a new spot or just breathe as quickly as possible?”

Asuma rolled his eyes, annoyed, and elbowed Kakashi. “Not in front of the kids,” he hissed.

Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura wore various expressions of confusion. Shikamaru chimed in under his breath, “our counselor snuck off to smoke. He thinks it’s a big secret even though I can smell him from here.”

There was no further discussion on the matter as the counselors turned their attention to the campers.

Kakashi shrugged and pushed himself off of the wall. “We should clear out so Kurenai and Guy can show their kids through when they get here.” He walked up to his campers. “If everyone’s finished with the bathroom, let’s head back to the cabin to unpack.”


	2. Chapter 2

The calm intonation of the words, “get up,” were all the members of Ash Cabin got as a wake-up. Sakura sat up groggily, rubbing her eyes. It had been a long night. They had had a cookout by the campfire, hamburgers just as Ibiki had promised, as a way to get acquainted with their fellow campers the first night.

Guy’s campers, Neji, Lee, and Tenten, had arrived in the afternoon. Kurenai’s campers, Hinata, Kiba, and Shino had arrived late but not too late for the evening meal. Kiba and Naruto had hit it off right away, and then promptly ruined it by trying to compete with each other. Sasuke was relieved to find that he wasn’t the only one who was irritated by the entire camp. Neji and Hinata were cousins and although they liked each other, Neji was becoming bored with the camp their parents insisted on sending them to every year. Sakura stayed by Ino for the most part but when Hinata came over to introduce Tenten, neither girl protested the addition.

The fun they’d had getting to know each other the night before made it all the more difficult to get up the next morning. However, once Naruto was up, he was _up_ and practically zooming around the small cabin. Kakashi caught him by the collar of his jacket before he could race out the door. “Wait for the others,” was all he said.

Sasuke was annoyed. His mother never woke him up this early. He said as much to Kakashi, realizing a moment after that it was a mistake.

Kakashi leaned down to be more at eye-level with the still seated Sasuke. Sasuke saw his own startled face in the reflection of the counselor’s sunglasses. “Do I look like your mother?”

The reflected Sasuke shook his head.

“I didn’t think so,” Kakashi replied cheerily. “And if you have any more trouble getting up in the morning, I’ll help you.”

Sakura was nodding along with this, stifling a yawn, until the counselor continued.

“If you aren’t up within five minutes of my asking, I will throw a bucket of lake water onto you, repeatedly if necessary, until you get the message.”

Sakura’s yawning mouth froze. She was standing before her mouth could close. _That’s it,_ Sakura thought, _our counselor is officially nuts._

“Now,” Kakashi continued, brightening further, “to make sure the schedule is clear to everyone, I’m required to give you these daily schedules.” He handed out three sheets. “If you lose yours, the schedule is also tacked up by my cot.” He gestured with a thumb at the wall behind him. There was a schedule posted on the wall.

Daily Schedule: 

8 -- Breakfast

9 -- Daily announcements around the flagpole

10 -- Crafts

11 -- Sports

12 -- Lunch

1 -- Break

2 – Wilderness talk/hike

3 -- Swimming lessons

4 -- Free time

5 -- Supper

6 -- Camp clean-up

7 -- Cabin free time

8 -- Campfire stories, songs, or skits

10 -- Lights out

Naruto was sounding out the word announcements to himself when Kakashi continued. “Later in the session there will also be a canoe race, a capture the flag competition, and each cabin will camp out under the stars one night while you’re here. The scheduling of those will be based on the weather toward the midpoint and end of your two-week session. Tsunade makes the final decisions there.” Kakashi opened the door to the cabin, holding it open for them. “We’d better get a move on or we’ll miss breakfast.”

“What about showering?” Sakura asked. She was absently combing her fingers through her hair, trying not to look at Sasuke.

Kakashi glanced at the schedule, as if he didn’t already have it memorized. “Swimming is at three, you can wait until after that to shower or you can eat quickly and do it after breakfast. Your choice, but I would recommend doing it after swimming, otherwise you’ll be showering twice.”

“I don’t mind,” Sakura retorted.

Kakashi shrugged. “Suit yourself but,” he held up a finger, seeing Naruto’s excited look, “everyone _will_ bathe at least once a day.” 

Naruto’s face fell and Kakashi almost chuckled.

00000

After breakfast they had morning announcements. This was their first day, so most of Tsunade’s speech involved a verbal refresher of the camp rules, the schedule, information about capture the flag and the canoe race, but she did tag on something at the end.

“I will warn you, there have been reports of increased bear activity in this area. We haven’t seen any yet but the rangers have told us to keep a lookout. So I will reiterate that I don’t want anyone wandering off by themselves. Stay with your counselors or the adult in charge of your activity, that is all.” Tsunade waved at them as if to dissipate the children like smoke that was in her face.

“Yeah right,” Kiba whispered to Naruto. “As if there are actual bears wandering around. I bet they say that every session just to keep kids from sneaking off.”

Naruto half nodded, not really wanting to commit. His dad told him once that most of the rules he made Naruto follow were to keep him safe. This seemed like one of those rules. He didn’t tell Kiba that though.

00000

It was noon on the second day already. Naruto and Kiba grabbed their lunch trays, moving through the line as they were served tacos. Naruto looked at the taco meat suspiciously. He wondered if it could possibly be ground up leftover hamburgers from their first meal when Kiba interrupted him.

“Hey Naruto, watch this,” Kiba whispered. Ino was in front of them in line. Kiba reached into his pocket and pulled out an earth worm. It was still wiggling with mud clinging to its slick body.

Naruto’s eyes got huge. Before he could ask what Kiba planned on doing with that, the brunette slipped his arm around Ino and dropped the worm onto her tray. The worm landed on her silverware. Ino grabbed a napkin and went to sit. She hadn’t noticed a thing.

Kiba grinned silently at Naruto, not believing his good luck. The boys hurriedly left the line and went to sit down, facing Ino but not close enough to be suspicious. They didn’t have to wait long.

Ino’s shriek pierced the room and everyone froze where they stood. She flung her tray away from her, just missing Shino. Her entire lunch splattered on the floor, along with the unlucky worm.

“What is going on?” Kurenai cried, arriving on the scene first.

“A worm, there’s a worm in my food!”

Kurenai suppressed an eyeroll. “Where?” She looked at the girl’s lunch which now littered the tile floor.

“It was in my silverware!” Ino exclaimed. Ibiki arrived with a mop and bucket. Asuma picked up the tray.

“Ino, how could a worm,” Asuma cut himself off. “Holy cow she wasn’t kidding.” The worm wriggled into view.

Ibiki glared at the worm as if it was personally insulting his cooking.

“Here Ibiki,” Asuma took the mop. “Ino and I will clean this up.” Asuma gave Ino a look that forbade argument. The two cleaned the mess in no time and Ino was allowed time to get another tray of food.

Kiba was beside himself. “That worked even better than I thought,” he snickered, elbowing Naruto. “Top that.”

Naruto wasn’t sure if he could, or wanted to, top that but he wasn’t given much time to think about it. Both boys jumped as someone coughed lightly behind them. Kiba and Naruto spun around to see Kakashi. The counselor looked down at them through his sunglasses. His mask moved as if he smiled, gave a little wave, and walked away. Naruto was sure he’d heard what Kiba had said. 

Kiba glared at the counselor as he walked away. Then his eyes brightened. “I know how we could one up the earthworm.” He pointed at Kakashi’s back. “You should steal his mask or at the very least, see what he’s hiding under there. I know he doesn’t have mono. My sister had it last year and she was so tired she had to be in bed all day.”

“I don’t know Kiba, he even wears it when he’s asleep,” Naruto replied.

“Oh yeah, you’re in his cabin aren’t you?” Kiba asked this as if he had completely forgotten. “If he wears it to bed then you should steal it when he’s asleep. Then you can hang it from the flagpole the next morning!”

That did sound exciting. Naruto was warming up to the idea. He wanted to see under that mask after all. This way he could satisfy his curiosity and prove himself to Kiba. He might need a little help though.

000000

“Why would we help you steal our counselor’s mask?” Sakura asked. It was free time after swimming and the girl was still toweling her hair dry. Sasuke was hanging his towel to dry off their cabin’s porch railing. Kakashi was down by the lake, seeing that all the swimmers got out of the water. Despite the counselor being in charge during the free swim, he didn’t appear to have any swimming clothes on.

“Don’t you want to see what he’s hiding?” Naruto asked.

“He probably isn’t hiding anything,” Sakura retorted. “Right Sasuke?”

Sasuke looked thoughtful but then shook his head. “He even wears it in his sleep, that’s weird. Still, I’m not putting my neck out for Naruto. If you get caught, I’m not covering for you.”

“Thanks a lot,” Naruto replied. “Fine, I’ll do it myself then, tonight.”

When it was time for lights out, Sakura secretly waited up to see what would happen. She really was curious but Sasuke was right, it wasn’t worth getting into trouble. If she could watch Naruto pull the prank off that would be great. She couldn’t get in trouble for watching, right?

It ended up being a long wait. Naruto, while waiting for Kakashi to fall asleep, fell asleep himself. The blonde slept straight through until the morning.

“You idiot,” Sakura hissed at him. Her lack of sleep the night before made her irritable in the morning. “What kind of a prank was that?”

Naruto panicked. He glanced over at Kakashi, who was ready for the day and waiting for his campers to go down to breakfast. He sat on his cot, reading. “Okay okay,” Naruto whispered. “I’ll do it right now. You two just watch me!” Maybe he wouldn’t get to hang the mask from the flag pole, but Naruto still wanted to know what was under that mask.

“Yeah right,” Sasuke huffed. Still, both Sasuke and Sakura watched in fascination as Naruto walked over to Kakashi.

“Hey Kakashi, I was just wondering- whoops!” Naruto pretended to trip right as he got in front of his counselor. His hand splayed out, reaching to pull the mask down “accidently” as he fell.

Kakashi snatched Naruto’s wrist and yanked it up and away from his mask. This left the boy awkwardly suspended in the air. Naruto wasn’t falling anymore but he wasn’t exactly on his feet either. It was uncomfortable and awkward, hanging by his wrist.

Kakashi looked up from his book. “I’d be more careful if I were you.” The way he said it could have meant that Naruto should be careful not to trip in the future. However, when Naruto looked at those expressionless black lenses, he knew that Kakashi meant getting away with pranks. From that moment on Naruto swore off pranks, at least while at camp. 

000000

It didn’t take long for the campers to get used to the daily routine. The counselors would change up the activities, like a different physical activity during the sports hour, but besides that it was pretty regular.

Of all the sports, the three-legged races were particularly memorable. The series of races were kept track of by Kurenai, who had a large poster board that listed the brackets.

Some of the pairings made more sense than others. Sakura and Ino were good at communicating but they aren’t particularly fast. Sasuke and Naruto ended up together, Kakashi had nothing to do with that, and spent most of their races either on top of each other or shouting at each other. Hinata and Neji were more in sync but their height difference made things difficult. Kiba and Tenten were completely incompatible but didn’t shout about it the way Naruto and Sasuke did. Shikamaru and Choji being together seemed like a mishmash, up until Choji picked Shikamaru up and ran the rest of the race carrying him. Asuma called a foul after that, saying that they both had to run from then on. They won no more races.

The winners of the overall competition, Lee and Shino, were something to behold. Lee was as loud as Shino was quiet, but they worked well together. Neither slacked off in their duties to the goal and they ended up taking the tournament. Lee shouted out his success to the world. Shino simply smiled.

Potato sack races, an obstacle course prepared by Ibiki, kickball, every day it was something different. There were swimming lessons in the afternoon and if they were lucky, it’d become a free swim.

The food wasn’t particularly good but wasn’t horrible either. One night after they’d returned to their cabins, Naruto mentioned this to Kakashi.

The counselor didn’t look up from his book. “Camp food is never good tasting, as it should be. It’s a rite of passage.”

000000 

It was breakfast as usual in the mess hall. Carton scrambled eggs, breakfast meat that didn’t quite look like either sausage or bacon, soft fruit, and crumbly bagels were on the menu. Kakashi and his campers sat at their usual table.

Sakura looked at her meal suspiciously. She wondered if the round patty on her plate that was masquerading as patty sausage was a leftover from the other night’s hamburgers.

Kakashi, mask firmly in place although he didn’t seem ill, glanced out at the overcast sky apprehensively.

“I hope we get to free swim in the lake today,” Naruto said as he shoveled scrambled eggs into his mouth.

Sakura raised an eyebrow at Naruto’s table manners and decided it was more pleasant to gaze at Sasuke instead. “That’s fine,” Sakura answered although she was looking at Sasuke. “As long as it doesn’t rain.”

There was a flash of lightning in the distance and Kakashi flinched. The group of four watched through the window as first one and then another raindrop disturbed the surface of the lake. The rain made the calm body of water became layers of overlapped circles. There was a roll of thunder and the first pings landed on the steel roof above their heads.

Kakashi slumped in his seat, eyes looking at his unfinished breakfast dejectedly.

Naruto’s disappointed declaration of, “oh no, what are we going to do _now_ ,” was drowned out by a very different exclamation.

“Could it be?” A voice shouted from across the mess hall. A flash of green later and Guy stood by the window, watching the rain with glee. He whipped around to look at Kakashi, who was pinching the bridge of his nose through his mask. “Do you know what this means Kakashi?!”

“A rain day,” Kakashi sighed out, eyes closed.

“Not only that,” Guy said, grinning. “A baking day!” In a flash, Guy was wearing a lime-green apron over his usual green tracksuit. Sasuke’s eyes grew to match the size of his bagel halves.

Sakura looked at their counselor for a clue as to what was happening. Kakashi just sat there with his eyes closed, as if he could will the situation away. Finally he opened them and wished he hadn’t. Guy had begun to dance around the room, much to the amusement of the counselors and campers.

Kakashi looked at his campers. “Each of us counselors pick an equal number of days during each session. If there is inclement weather,” at Naruto’s look of confusion Kakashi explained, “which is weather that makes normal outdoor activities impossible,” he continued, “it’s declared a rain day. The normal schedule changes and the counselor who picked that day from the calendar gets to choose the core activity for the day.”

Guy continued to jump around as Kurenai and Asuma approached Kakashi. “Baking day huh?” Asuma said, half humored half exasperated.

Kakashi nodded in acknowledgement and continued to his campers, “today is Guy’s day.”

“It’s _always_ Guy’s day,” Kurenai complained, hands on hips. “Just once I’d like a rain day so I can teach some yoga or self-defense training.”

Asuma’s eyebrows went way up as he looked at Kurenai for a second, imagining her stretching into interesting poses. Then he imagined her twisting his arm around and throwing him. He winced. He shook himself and turned his attention back to the conversation. “The point is kids,” Asuma said, “the rain day almost always-”

“Always,” Kakashi protested, fingers gripping the bridge of his nose again.

“Almost always,” Asuma continued, “lands on Guy’s day. And he ALWAYS chooses baking.” 

Sakura said, “what’s wrong with baking?”

Simultaneously Sasuke said, “baking is for _girls_ ,” and huffed.

Sakura wasn’t sure how to react when Naruto barged in. “You take that back! My Dad loves baking!”

Sasuke moved to stand, fists clenched and glaring at Naruto. Kakashi cut in with a firm, “knock it off.”

Sasuke sat but he and Naruto glared daggers at each other. Asuma and Kurenai’s eyes were wide. They were both silently happy to not have the problem campers this session.

Finally Sakura tentatively spoke up, “do you not like baking Kakashi?” 

Before he could answer Kurenai spoke up, “oh baking isn’t the problem. As a matter of fact, Kakashi is a good baker. He just doesn’t have much of a sweet tooth.”

Kakashi cocked an eyebrow at his fellow counselor. “If having no desire to eat an entire pan of brownies in one sitting means I have no sweet tooth, then I can do without it.”

Kurenai started to pout. Asuma immediately tried to change the subject. “Anyway, that’s not the problem. It’s G-”

“Are we all ready for a good baking day?” Guy was suddenly behind them as if summoned.

Asuma quickly cut himself off. Kakashi took a breath and stood. “Come on guys, baking day it is.” His campers slowly stood while Guy bombarded Kakashi.

“What are you going to show them how to bake today Kakashi? Brownies? Cookies? Cake? Because whatever you do I’ll bake tenfold!”

Kurenai massaged a temple. “Please don’t Guy, that’s how we ran out of flour last year.”

Asuma shook his head. “Ibiki will not be happy if we use all of his flour during the first week.”

“How about scotcheroos?” Kakashi suggested to his campers. “Those don’t use any flour.”

“Those are made on the stove-top,” Asuma interjected. “They don’t count.”

“Do too,” Kurenai argued. “You don’t have to actually make something in the oven for it to be described as baking. What about no-bake cookies?”

“No- _bake_ , it’s in the name,” Asuma deadpanned.

To settle the argument, Guy ran off to the camp library to find the dictionary. He returned with it balanced open in his hand. He read the definition of baking aloud, “to cook with continuous dry heat, especially in an oven.” He nodded in satisfaction and shut the book with a snap. “Scotcheroos qualify. The oven isn’t the only way you can ‘bake’ something even though it is the typical way.”

Sakura piped up again. “Excuse me, but what’s a scotcheroo?”

All four counselors looked at her. “They go by many names,” Asuma said quickly. “Just because you haven’t heard that specific name doesn’t mean you don’t know what it is.” The tone of his voice made it clear that he wanted to leave the explanation at that.

Kurenai opened her mouth to begin getting into the many names of scotcheroos but Kakashi stood up and hustled his campers away. “That’s what you’re going to learn today, along with some stove-top safety.” Kakashi smiled at the other counselors as he herded his campers to line up for morning announcements.

Guy dashed off to get his campers in response.

After morning announcements, which were held indoors instead of around the flagpole, the counselors led their campers into the kitchen. Ibiki grunted at them as they entered. He’d just finished cleaning up after breakfast and it was clear by the look on his face that the campers had better clean up after themselves. With a grunt he left, the door swinging behind him.

Kakashi approached an oven/range combined unit with Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke close behind. Opening the second drawer on the left he pulled out aprons and oven mitts. Naruto quickly shoved the mitts onto his hands and then attempted to tie on his apron with his encumbered hands. Sasuke huffed at his antics. Sakura finished tying on her apron and, taking pity on Naruto, helped tie his apron as well.

“Now, the first thing we should do is get out all of the ingredients to make sure we have everything,” Kakashi began.

Sakura looked at the counter, and spoke up, “but where’s the recipe?”

Kakashi tapped a finger on his temple. “It’s up here.”

“Oh great,” Sasuke muttered, “he’s making it up.”

Kakashi raised an eyebrow but didn’t say anything. He continued, “we need six cups of krispy rice cereal.”

“You mean Rice Krispies?” Sakura piped up again.

Kakashi shrugged, “yes, but we can’t say that due to trademark infringement. Anyway, six cups of cereal,” he began to list off the rest of the ingredients.

“No wonder he had it memorized,” Naruto said. “It’s only like five things.”

“Six things,” Sasuke corrected, his eyebrow twitching.

“I said ‘like’!” Naruto bellowed.

Kakashi raised an eyebrow at them and they hushed up. “Sakura, why don’t you mix the sugar and light corn syrup together? The heat will help them combine.” He turned on the stovetop under the pot to medium and Sakura began stirring with her spatula. “You don’t have to stir it all the time, just every so often so it doesn’t burn.” Sakura stopped in her stirring, nodded, and proceeded to stir every few minutes. 

“Sasuke,” Kakashi handed the boy a measuring cup. “Measure out the peanut butter.”

“I hate peanut butter,” Sasuke muttered, taking the offered cup.

“Well then you don’t have to eat it!” Naruto exclaimed.

Sasuke huffed, crossed his arms, and looked away. Eventually he grasped the commercial sized peanut butter jar, unscrewed the lid, and cupped out the oily spread. He leveled the cup off with a knife that Sakura offered him without a word.

Kakashi checked the contents of Sakura’s pot. He lowered the heat. “Sasuke, you can go ahead and add the peanut butter.” Kakashi greased the rectangular cake pan that he pulled from a cupboard. “Naruto, you’re in charge of the chips.” He handed the boy two bags, one of butterscotch chips and the other of semi-sweet chocolate chips.

“Alright!” Naruto cheered.

Kakashi gave him a stern glare that pierced his sunglasses. “If I catch you eating any of those, I’ll throw you in the lake next time you try to sleep. Are we clear?”

Naruto gulped and nodded. 

“Good,” Kakashi replied too cheerfully. He set up another, smaller pot on the stove for Naruto’s chips and turned the heat on low. While Naruto carefully measured out a cup of each, Kakashi assisted Sakura in spreading the cereal concoction into the pan. “Once it’s a little cooler we can press it with our hands,” he advised as they patted it down with a spatula. “The more compacted it is, the gooier the bars will be.”

Naruto continuously stirred the chips that were melting in his pot while he watched Sasuke join Sakura in pressing the cereal flat in the pan with their washed hands. He blinked when Kakashi walked up to him.

“Almost there,” Kakashi commented on the globs of melting chips. When the tan and brown chips were completely melted together, Kakashi helped Naruto pour them on top of the flattened cereal mixture. Once it was spread, Kakashi put the pan aside to set. “We don’t have to wait until they’re set to cut them, but it will make less of a mess if we do.”

At the mention of cleaning, Sakura immediately began tidying up their area of the kitchen. The boys joined in with only a nudge of encouragement from their counselor. None of the other campers had finished their projects yet so once their area was clean and dishes washed they just had to sit and wait.

Before long, Kurenai’s team came over and asked if they could use the oven. Hinata blushed, making Kakashi raise an eyebrow until he followed her gaze to Naruto. With half of a chuckle, he pulled out a magazine and began to read.

Guy came over a few moments later. “Oh I see what you did there. You chose scotcheroos so that your team would finish first. Very clever Kakashi, next time my team will beat yours with their no-bake cookies.”

Kakashi glanced up from his magazine, his sunglasses shielding his expression. “I’m sorry Guy, did you say something?”

Guy was about to repeat himself when Kakashi spoke up. “Those are probably ready to be cut guys.”

“Can I cut them! Can I?” Naruto was jumping up and down.

_How is he so hyper? He hasn’t had any sugar yet,_ Kakashi thought. Out loud he said, “I’d better cut them, knives are dangerous.” His mask moved as if he’d smiled.

Sakura was a little put off by that smile but she let it go.

While some of the campers waited for their cakes or cookies to bake, they chatted amongst themselves. When everyone was finished, the campers sampled each other’s work, picking their favorites and chatting excitedly.

000000

Thankfully crafts could still be done indoors in the recreation hall. That didn’t mean that everyone was happy. 

“This is stupid,” Sasuke declared, tossing aside his started bird house. The two pieces of wood that he’d managed to fuse together sprung apart. 

“Just because you don’t like it Sasuke, doesn’t make it stupid,” Kakashi spoke from where he was seated. Their counselor was staining his third bat house.

“Why do you always make bat houses Kakashi?” Sakura asked. Her bird house was nearly done.

“Because I made a lot of bird houses when I was younger, I figured it was time to even things out.” Kakashi replied. The answer was simple enough but seemed more complicated somehow.

Sasuke interrupted. “Bird houses? Bat houses? What’s the difference? They’re both pointless. The birds and bats already have places to sleep.” Sasuke crossed his arms.

Kakashi raised his eyebrows behind his sunglasses. “You’d like a craft that’s more…practical, is that it Sasuke?”

“Yeah,” Sasuke grunted. “If I’m going to bother making something, I should be able to use it!”

Kakashi hummed to himself and stood up. “Let’s see,” Kakashi said, rummaging around in the craft closet in the recreation hall. Sakura and Naruto glanced up in interest but finishing their houses was more important.

“Are moccasins practical enough for you?” Kakashi asked, producing some rolls of craft leather, a hole puncher, and leather cord.

“Exactly,” Sasuke sighed, as if someone finally understood.

Kakashi moved his bat houses aside to make room on the table. Neji and some of the other kids came over to watch as Kakashi explained how to measure a foot on a stencil and then cut the leather to fit the stencil. In a little while, Sasuke was happily weaving the leather cord through the holes he'd pounded into the leather. The cord went in and out, in and out. It was rather soothing.

Meanwhile Kakashi helped a few other campers measure for their own moccasins.

When Sasuke got to the end of his first moccasin, Kakashi came over and showed him how to finish off with a knot. By now Sakura had finished her bird house and was measuring her own feet for moccasins. Naruto was carefully painting his bird house. He wanted to give it to his father as a gift.

Sasuke was halfway finished stitching together his second moccasin when he stopped cold. He looked at the project in his hands, at the knots and stitches, and realization dawned on him. He was suddenly furious. “Wait and minute! This is sewing!” Sasuke declared, outraged.

Kakashi glanced over. Even with the sunglasses on, Sasuke could clearly read the expression on his face, “duh”. 

“Why are you teaching me to sew?” Sasuke demanded. He shoved the moccasin away from himself. He could imagine what Itachi would say if he saw Sasuke sewing.

“Sewing is a useful life skill,” Kakashi replied. “Someday you can maybe graduate to using a needle and after that, a machine.”

“I don’t want to learn to sew,” Sasuke declared.

“It’s a little late for that,” Kakashi replied. “You’ve been sewing for the last half hour.” Sasuke’s ears turned pink. Kakashi sighed, this kid was not getting it. “You wanted to make something useful. Sewing is an extremely useful craft to learn.” 

Sasuke glared at his moccasin. Kakashi gave him a minute and then said, “you can glare at your shoe for the rest of camp, or you can finish what you started. Your choice.”

Sasuke shoved his moccasins into his craft box at the end of the hour. Naruto carefully lowered his bird house in to dry. The projects would be there for them tomorrow.


	3. Chapter 3

It rained all day, to the point that Tsunade had to allow everyone to pick two books from the camp library and head to the cabins for the night.

“If we use up all of our rain activities today, there will be nothing left if this continues,” Tsunade muttered. “Board games in the cafeteria will only go so far.”

Kakashi chose one book for himself and then helped his campers with their choices. He recommended a few books to Naruto, who was looking at Treasure Island with a hopeful expression. Books chosen, Kakashi held out a plastic shopping bag. They each deposited their books inside, the counselor wrapped the bag up tightly, and they ventured out into the deluge. They headed back to Ash Cabin at a run, splashing through the mud, trying to dodge the raindrops with no success.

When they reached the porch, they shook themselves and watched the rain for a minute. The rain was coming down so hard that it was impossible to see any of the nearby buildings. Ash Cabin was like an island with nothing beyond it but rain pouring from the sky.

When the campers began to shiver, Kakashi herded them into the cabin. He flicked the light on as he entered and the cabin windows glowed like an oasis in the night.

“I’m freezing,” Sakura stated, shivering in her wet clothes. There was a puddle on the boards where she stood. 

“Freezing temperature is 32 degrees Fahrenheit Sakura,” Kakashi replied neutrally. Then, “we’d all better change into dry clothes.”

Sakura ducked behind a partition while the boys changed in the main room. Changing faster even than Naruto, Kakashi replaced his sunglasses and mask and then went to one of the trunks at the end of an unoccupied bed. He pulled out a space heater and plugged it into the cabin’s only outlet. He couldn’t have his cute little campers “freezing” to death. 

By the time Sakura came out, one end of the cabin was already toasty, banishing the damp air outside. Sasuke and Naruto were in their respective cots, starting on their books. Kakashi watched out of the corner of his eye until Sakura was also settled. Satisfied that everyone was comfortable, he turned to his own book. This might be a nice night after all.

An hour later, Naruto was asleep, but not without making noticeable progress in his book. Kakashi was tired as well, and a little overwarm next to the space heater, but he shouldn’t go to sleep until his campers did. Sasuke and Sakura were both engrossed in their own books. Kakashi checked the clock. It was only 9 so they still had an hour until lights-out. He relaxed against his pillow.

The downpour was soon accompanied by the occasional flash of lightning and the roll of thunder. This didn’t bother any of them at first, but as the flashes and booms grew closer and closer together, the thunder became louder and more startling.

After each boom of thunder, Sakura and then even Sasuke glanced at their counselor. Kakashi looked as relaxed and sleepy as ever in his cot, so they went back to their reading. Then there was a flash, boom, and an abrupt quiet.

Kakashi blinked lazily at the sudden darkness of the cabin while the storm raged on outside. Sakura screamed, waking Naruto, who flew into a sitting position, eyes wide. He blinked several times when the blackness didn’t go away.

“Calm down,” Sasuke sighed in the dark. “The power’s out, that’s all.”

Kakashi closed his book and set it aside. He slowly got up out of his warm cot.

“What do you mean ‘that’s all’?” Sakura exclaimed. “We have no heat now! It’s so dark! What-” She could hear someone moving in the cabin. “What- Who is that,” she demanded.

“Relax Sakura, it’s just me,” Kakashi replied, his voice smooth in the darkness. “Give me a minute.”

They could all hear Kakashi rummaging around in a trunk. His fingers feathered over each item, blindly feeling for what he wanted. “Ah, here we go.” The scrape of a match could be heard and then they could see a prick of light. The drop of flame was suddenly bleached by a flash of lightning. Thunder and darkness followed and Sakura sunk back into the safety of her sheets.

After the brightness of the lightning faded, the prick of light remained, joining with a larger wick. Now they could see Kakashi holding a lantern in his left hand. He smiled at them all through his mask. His eyes were still shaded. “See? Nothing to worry about.”

“Nothing to worry about?” Sakura protested. “The power is out!” She nearly shouted this but then realized that it wasn’t really such a large crisis. “What are we going to do,” she asked meekly.

“Oh, I suppose we can go to bed early,” Kakashi replied.

“But what about the heat?” Sakura looked at the boys. Their counselor didn’t seem to be taking this situation seriously.

“We’re pretty warm in here already,” Kakashi answered. “And you’d be surprised at the heat a lantern can give.” Sakura was still looking at him speculatively. “You can go to the main building until the power’s back on, but there won’t be anything to sleep on there.”

Sakura seemed to weigh her options but not for long. The lightning and thunder were moving off so the booming wasn’t as loud. The power wouldn’t be on at the main building either and she really was quite warm already. Going out in the rain now would actually make her colder. “I’ll stay,” she said.

Kakashi turned to the boys, eyebrows raised over the sunglasses in question.

Naruto and Sasuke looked at each other and then back at Kakashi. Even if they’d wanted to go to the main building, neither dared to appear afraid. “We’re good.”

“Alright then.” Kakashi pulled his end table to the center of the room and set the lantern on it. “But just to be safe, we can all put our cots around the lantern here. It’ll be like a campfire.”

The three campers eagerly hopped out of bed and dragged their cots closer to the center of light. From above, it looked like they formed an addition sign with their four beds radiating out from the lantern.

“Kakashi, would you tell us a campfire story?” Naruto suddenly asked once they were situated. He seemed surprised himself at the suggestion. Then, “you know, since we missed campfire stories, songs, and skits tonight, because of the rain.”

“Obviously,” Sasuke added with an exasperated look.

Naruto scowled. “Nobody asked you.”

Kakashi cleared his throat, ending the argument. “You guys may have heard this one,” his voice dropped to a whisper. The three campers leaned in to hear. “Have you heard of The Ghost of John?”

All three campers shook their heads, eyes wide at their counselor’s sudden seriousness.

Kakashi settled in on his cot, laying on his stomach with his forearms propping him up to face the campers. “The Ghost of John is so old that no one knows the story of his life before he died. He walks the night moving slowly, cautiously through the dark. You see, The Ghost of John doesn’t have any flesh left, only his bones remain. So he moves slowly to keep his bones from clicking together as he walks. That is, unless he has a need to hurry.

“On a cold night like this one, there were some campers heading back to their cabin. They had had a long day of hiking and were eager to return to their snug beds. Everything was fine, until one of them stopped. The camper had heard something and paused to listen.

“Click, click, click.

“‘What is that?’ One of them asked. None of them could place the sound, although it seemed somewhat familiar. Another said it was just the dead tree branches scratching against each other. And so, reassured, they continued on.

“Further down the trail, they all heard it. ‘Click, click, click.’ The clicks were coming faster now. The campers looked at each other. ‘Let’s hurry back,’ one said. And so they quickened their pace.

“A ‘click, click, click, click’ followed them, quickening as well. The campers looked at each other, unsure what to do. They turned around to look behind them, but there was nothing to see but the dark forest and the path they’d just traversed. And still, the clicking kept getting closer. As they hurried, they heard more clicks, the sounds sliding over each other, like pebbles falling down a mountainside.

“‘Run!’ The first camper cried. The campers rushed down the trail with the avalanche-like clicks close behind them. The sounds of their footsteps were drowned out by the clicks that echoed throughout the forest. The campers ran at a breakneck pace, desperate to get back to their camp. If they got back to camp, they were sure everything would be alright. Their fellow campers would be there and with a fire too.

“So they ran down that mountain until they entered a clearing with two cabins and a fire. They were safe at last! The clicking stopped abruptly and as hard as they tried to peer into the dark, they couldn’t see anything up the trail beyond the fire’s light.

“The hikers, with little prompting, began telling their tale in earnest. However, despite their obvious terror and the truth of it on their faces, the other campers hadn’t heard any clicking sounds the entire night, including when the hikers arrived. 

“After an hour around the campfire, and no more clicking sounds to be heard, the campers got prepared for bed. One of the hikers took a bucket of water to douse the fire for the night. As the flames were extinguished and the steamy smoke rose, the camper saw The Ghost of John drift away with the smoke into the cold night.

“You see, The Ghost of John had to hurry to follow the hikers back to their camp if he wanted to warm himself in their fire. He does that every night, warming himself in one fire, then another, as he continues on his lonely journey. He hasn’t much to do in this world but travel and try to keep warm. You see, The Ghost of John gets very cold with no skin on.” 

Kakashi looked around at the slack jaw faces around him. Sakura’s green eyes, especially, seemed to glow in the lantern light. The counselor coughed softly. “Of course we don’t need to worry about that tonight. We have a lantern, not a fire.”

“But it’s still keeping us warm,” Naruto pointed out.

Sasuke silently nodded in agreement.

Kakashi was about to say something else when there was a knock on their door. Sakura shrieked and dove under her covers. Sasuke was grateful to the girl for the first time since they’d been put into a cabin together. The high-pitched gasp he’d let out was only slightly softer than her scream, but had been conveniently covered up by it.

Kakashi climbed out of his cot and strode to the door. Kurenai stood on their lopsided porch, shaking out her umbrella. “Kurenai,” Kakashi greeted her after opening the door.

“What are you doing to your kids Kakashi? I heard someone scream,” Kurenai asked.

“Sorry, that was me,” Sakura confessed from her cot. 

Kakashi did not turn around but simply shrugged. “Telling them about The Ghost of John.”

Kurenai sighed with half of an eyeroll. “You’re telling them that story on a night like tonight?” Kakashi didn’t answer. After several moments she changed the subject. “The power’s out.”

“We noticed,” Kakashi replied in an unimpressed tone. 

Kurenai put a hand on her hip. “You left your walkie talkie off again.” She could see the walkie talkie on top of Kakashi’s trunk.

“I’m saving the battery.”

“Everyone checked in when the power went out except your cabin. You could have been hurt.”

“We’re fine.”

Kurenai paused, as if giving herself time to count to ten in her head. She mustered her patience. “But _we_ didn’t know that.”

“Look, if I leave it on, the sound of Guy’s voice suddenly shouting in our cabin would frighten my campers.”

Kurenai raised an eyebrow. “I don’t think you really need Guy’s help there.”

Kakashi shrugged again. “They asked for it.”

Behind him, Kakashi heard Sasuke mutter, “good going Naruto.” There was an answering shove and a brief scuffle before things were quiet a moment later.

“Try to keep it on during the day at least?” Kurenai requested.

“No promises,” Kakashi replied.

Kurenai opened her umbrella and prepared to venture back out into the rain. “Goodnight.”

“‘Night,” Kakashi responded. He closed the door, shutting the lingering rain out. He paused for a moment by the door, flipping the light switch off. There was no telling when the power would come back on but if it did in the middle of the night, they wouldn’t want the lights to suddenly be on while they were sleeping. Kakashi returned to his cot. He looked around at his three campers and stretched. “Time for bed.” He was tired, but he was hardly going to admit that. It was after ten in any case, lights out.

The campers snuggled down into their cots as Kakashi blew out the lantern. Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke’s eyes couldn’t help but be drawn to the smoke that drifted away from the extinguished wick. 


	4. Chapter 4

“Alright, since you’ve been doing well with your swimming lessons you’ll have,” Tsunade paused dramatically. “A free swim.”

All of the campers whooped and high fived. They ran off to their cabins to get changed.

Kakashi turned to follow his campers when Tsunade barked, “Hatake, you’re on lifeguard duty. Anko is sick today.” She smiled evilly at him.

Kakashi’s shoulders only slumped a little. He waved a hand in acknowledgement as he trailed after his kids.

Fifteen minutes later, all of the campers were sprinting for the water. Kakashi plodded after them. Despite his change into swim trunks and a camp t-shirt, the sunglasses and mask remained.

Kiba and Naruto raced to the end of the dock and jumped off, hands waving wildly. Sakura and Ino followed Sasuke. Eventually, in a huff, Sasuke jumped off of the dock after Naruto and Kiba. Both girls frowned and proceeded to argue with each other. Shino sat on the beach, digging his heels into the sun-heated sand. Hinata began to build a sandcastle and Choji sat down to help her. Shikamaru kicked back a few feet from Shino to cloud gaze.

It didn’t take long for Kiba and Naruto to begin wrestling in the water, splashing everyone within a ten-foot radius. Sasuke, seeing the counselors minus Kakashi swim out to the anchored dock in the middle of the lake, decided that would be the perfect place to avoid everyone. He paddled out to the floating dock in earnest. 

Ino pointed after him, saying something to Sakura. Sakura frowned, looking out at the dock with worried green eyes. Ino said something else and Sakura bristled, stomping down to the shore. Sakura waded into the water, enjoying the cool sensation on the summer day. Ino was quick to disturb her. Together, the two began swimming after Sasuke, who was still headed to the floating dock. Kurenai, Asuma, and Guy raced back to see who could touch the flag pole first.

Kakashi climbed up into the lifeguard nest at the end of the shore dock, glancing behind him every so often to check the shallows. Once he’d given the lake a once-over, the teen pulled out a magazine and, instead of reading it, kicked back and laid it over his face so that he could take a nap. Guy, Asuma, and Kurenai ran past him on their way out of the water. Kurenai rolled her eyes at Kakashi’s feigned inattention and kept sprinting through the sand.

As the sound of the counselors’ running feet faded, there was a scream from the water.

“Help! Please help us Sasuke!”

Ino was about halfway to the floating dock but Sakura was thrashing in the deep water. Ino waved frantically at Sasuke.

The boy, who had just pulled himself onto the floating dock, thought that the girls just wanted attention. But when Sasuke saw the frightened expression on Ino’s face, then Sakura’s desperate thrashing, he paled and started shouting at his counselor. To Sasuke’s shock, the lifeguard nest was empty. He looked around frantically, searching the beach and shore dock. The only sign that his counselor had even been there was the magazine now floating in the water near the lifeguard nest. Then Sasuke saw Kakashi surface. The counselor was already halfway to the girls, powerful strokes making the distance seem strangely short.

Seeing Kakashi already in the water made Sasuke realize what _he_ should have done. He dove into the water but, upon surfacing, was frustratingly far from Sakura. His hurried strokes were short and mismatched in his panic. 

Kakashi got to Ino but she was crying for Sakura, who had nearly given up. Kakashi moved past the blonde and grabbed Sakura. She panicked at first, redoubling her thrashing and nearly drowning her rescuer. Kakashi calmly pulled her onto her back and began side stroking for shore. Once she was floating on her back, Sakura gulped air as fast as she could. She clutched at Kakashi’s arm for dear life but soon realized that she was safe. Embarrassment lost out to her sheer gratitude for air. 

The lifeguard had thrown off his shirt, mask, and sunglasses. The sun stung his eyes but Kakashi didn’t really notice. He was focused on reaching the shore. Sasuke and Ino swam after him but couldn’t keep up with his strokes. The other kids, realizing that Sakura had almost drowned, were crying out from the beach.

The cries drew the attention of the other counselors, who were walking along the shore. They began running back to the campers in earnest.

Sakura was crying and clung on to Kakashi as he pulled her onto the sand. Besides the sobs, her breathing was fine. Ino ran up to comfort her but stopped when she caught sight of Kakashi’s face. A few of the other kids stared but Kakashi ignored them the best he could.

“Sakura, are you okay?” Kakashi asked. He didn’t try to comfort her but he simply squatted in the sand next to her until the other counselors ran up.

“What happened?” Kurenai demanded. The campers parted to let the trio through.

Ino, who had been spellbound by Kakashi’s face up until that point, was brought back into the moment by the question. She turned to look at Sakura and then burst into fresh tears.

“I didn’t m-mean to!” Ino bawled out.

“It’s okay Ino,” Sakura said quietly. “It isn’t your fault.”

The girls embraced. Kakashi sat in the sand and put his head between his knees. Whether this was to hide his face or because he was tired, was unclear. Guy threw him a towel and Kakashi straightened up under the cover.

“Sakura and I were swimming out to the dock,” Ino sniffed, “but I wanted to get there first, so I kept grabbing her foot to pull her back. I didn’t realize that she’d swallowed water.”

“That was just stupid,” Sasuke commented.

“Shut up Sasuke,” Asuma snapped.

“Was that really necessary Asuma?” Kakashi asked. He was toweling his hair dry and trying to ignore the looks the campers kept shooting him. Before Sasuke’s victorious grin could become more than a twitch in his mouth, Kakashi continued, his voice hardened. “Sasuke, that was also unnecessary. I’d better not hear you say anything disrespectful for the rest of camp. Got it?”

Sasuke muttered a, “got it,” before Asuma blew his top.

“Are you alright Sakura?” Guy repeated the question Kakashi had asked but she hadn’t answered.

Sakura nodded, grabbing Ino’s hand. “I’m okay.”

There was an awkward silence while the swimmers caught their breath. Finally Guy said, “what are you all looking at? Get back to your youthful activity!”

“Sakura, Ino, I’ll be taking you back to the main building,” Kurenai suggested. “Guy, you have lifeguarding duty?”

“Right,” Guy replied. He slapped Kakashi on the back before stepping smartly onto the dock toward the lifeguard chair.

Asuma held out a hand for Kakashi, which he took and pulled himself up. He wandered over to the shallows and retrieved his magazine, mask, shirt, and sunglasses. Then he followed Kurenai, Sakura, and Ino up to the main building.

“Did I say ‘thank you’?” Sakura asked Ino as they walked. “I’m not sure I remembered to say thank you.”

“I’m not sure I remembered anything after I saw his face,” Ino whispered back. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone that handsome in real life. Your counselor is better looking than most movie stars!”

“I should have said thank you.” Sakura muttered. “He saved my life.” Her embarrassment crept up on her now that the excitement was over. 

“Lucky,” Ino scoffed. 

000000

Later that night during cabin free time, Sasuke was reading his book and Sakura was writing a letter to her parents. She kept glancing at Kakashi but couldn’t pluck up the courage to say anything now that the moment had passed. She contented herself by writing every nice thing she could think of about her counselor instead. Naruto was feeling too fidgety to read. Kakashi, with sunglasses and mask on once more, was digging around in one of the spare trunks in the cabin. His book was left behind on his cot.

“What are you doing Kakashi?” Naruto asked.

The counselor didn’t look up from the trunk. “Well I was going to fix the porch but it’s too wet after the rain, so I’m going to mend the screen door.” Kakashi replied.

“Can I help?” Naruto asked.

Kakashi shrugged. “It’s kind of a one-person job but you can watch if you like.”

Kakashi pulled a roll of wire screen and a wire cutter out of the trunk. He let the trunk lid fall closed with a thunk.

“What are you going to do?” Naruto asked.

Kakashi strolled over to the door and looked at the screen. “Watch and see.” He set the roll of screening down and sat in the doorway. Using the wire cutters, Kakashi cut the loose wires away from the hole. Once the edges of the hole in the screen were smooth, Kakashi unrolled the spare piece of screen. He looked at the door one last time and cut a new piece of screen that was two inches larger all the way around than the hole. Naruto watched as he bent in the end wires of the patch until they were all at a 90-degree angle. Then Kakashi put the patch over the hole, pushing the bent wires at the edge of the patch through the existing screen holes. Then he went to the other side of the door. He was going to use his hand on the other side of the door to keep the patch in place but then he had a better idea. Kakashi looked up then and smiled at Naruto through his mask. Naruto had been quiet the whole time.

“If you want to help, push on the patch a little so it doesn’t pop out when I bend the ends in.” Kakashi smiled as Naruto eagerly rushed forward to help. Kakashi stood on one side of the door with Naruto on the other. “Not too hard,” Kakashi warned. “We don’t want to push the whole screen out.” Naruto nodded and pushed while Kakashi bent the edges the rest of the way so that they hooked onto the existing screen all the way around.

Kakashi nodded. “There, done.” He pushed on the screen a little and the patch held.

“It’s like it was never there,” Naruto exclaimed.

“Not quite,” Kakashi disagreed. The place where the patch edges overlapped with the original screen was thicker but it was less noticeable than the hole had been, besides functional.

“Why didn’t you just use the wire you had to make a new screen?” Sasuke’s question got Kakashi and Naruto’s attention. Sakura was also looking up from her letter, watching the proceedings.

Kakashi looked at the screen again. “Sometimes, it’s better to fix something than replace it. Say if something worse happens to this door and the whole screen needs to be replaced, I’ll be needing the screen wire then, not now.”

“But you can just buy more,” Sakura chipped in.

“Might not be in the budget,” Kakashi shrugged. “Then my cabin has no screen on the door.”

“That’s not your responsibility,” Sasuke frowned. He’d tried to ask his father about grown up things before, financial things, and he’d been shut down. His father had told him that he didn’t need to worry about that until he was older. Sasuke knew that Kakashi was older than he was, but he was also sure that a counselor wasn’t responsible for the finances of the camp.

Kakashi smiled. “Maybe not, but I’m capable of doing it and there will be bugs in our cabin otherwise. That makes me feel responsible.”

Kakashi paused for a moment and then looked out over the lake. The setting sun was changing the color of the sky. “Time for campfire stories, songs, or skits.” He knelt down to pick up the bits of stray wire. “You three go ahead, I’ll catch up.” Sakura and Sasuke put their things down and headed toward the door.

Naruto knelt down next to Kakashi and started picking up wire. Black lenses watched his movements. Naruto smiled to himself, happy to help. “If I help you pick up, then we can all go together, right?”

Kakashi smiled. “Sure.”

Sakura looked around for a way to help. She grabbed the wastebasket and held it out for Naruto. His hands were full of wire pieces. Kakashi and Naruto threw the bits of wire away in the offered basket. While Sakura put the trash can back in its place, Kakashi picked up the wire cutter tool and Naruto rolled up the spare screen. Both were placed back in the trunk and the four of them headed to campfire stories. 


	5. Chapter 5

“Alright today we’re going on another hike,” Kakashi stretched. Their after-lunch break was over. “We’ve covered the shorter, low trails so today we’re going on a longer hike up into the hills. Grab your canteens and backpacks.”

Naruto rushed about to complete the task. He was halfway out the door before he zoomed back in to fill his empty canteen. Kakashi stepped out of the way just in time. Sasuke was not so prepared.

“Look where you’re going!” Sasuke cried as he pulled himself and his gear up off of the floor. Naruto scrambled up, muttering a quick apology, and hurried to fill his canteen. Sakura shouldered her bag nervously. She opened her mouth to say something but Sasuke was already out the door.

Once Naruto and Sakura were also outside, Kakashi followed them out.

“I think we’ll take the western game trail today. It’s been awhile since I’ve been up there.” Kakashi took the lead and his campers followed him.

The four hiked into the wooded hills that surrounded the lake. Birds sang and flew from branch to branch, crossing the path as they hurried to finish their business. The dirt trail was strewn with leaves and pine needles from last fall, giving off an earthy scent. The trees overhead shaded the campers from the sun, making their hike a little cooler. All in all it was a beautiful day.

Kakashi pointed out poisoned ivy to the trio, then quickly pulled Naruto back when he reached out to touch the leaves. The counselor named the trees and helped Sakura identify them by bark, leaf, and fruit. Naruto was more interested in poking Sasuke with every stick he found.

Kakashi looked back at the troublesome pair. “The next person who touches a stick is going to get whipped with it. This is your only warning. Unless we’re building a fire or clearing the path, we don’t need to be picking up sticks.”

Naruto immediately dropped the stick that he’d hidden behind his back. Sasuke snickered.

Sakura couldn’t get over how the trees grew differently from one place to the next. The trees at a higher elevation were different from the ones that grew down by the lake. Even Naruto and Sasuke became interested because of Sakura’s enthusiasm.

The woods were more interesting the closer they looked. It was different from when their parents would drive them through a forest. Even on the path, they were still noticing things that they’d never thought to look at before.

One tree had been struck by lightning, with half of the trunk fallen away. That half of the original trunk stuck up, looking dangerous and sharp among the green leaves. Yet, part of the tree was still growing, still reaching for the dangerous heights closer to the sun.

Another tree had fallen in its old age and been rotting for some time. If they pulled the soft outer bark back, they could see all of the insects and grubs living inside. Sakura stepped back with a frown, afraid the bugs would jump onto her and get in her hair.

When Naruto saw how easily the bark came off, he began pulling it all off as quickly as he could.

Kakashi frowned. “Naruto, it isn’t necessary to disturb the _entire_ tree.”

As if to prove Kakashi’s words, Naruto pulled back one large, loose piece of bark to be met face to face with a sleeping bat. The little furry creature shook awake, spread its webbed wings, and took off so quickly that Naruto yelled in surprise. He fell back from it with a yelp, covering his face with his arms.

“Don’t let it get me,” Naruto cried, cringing away from the tree.

The other three stared at Naruto, who was sitting on the ground hiding from nothing. The bat was long gone to find another place to sleep.

“Let that be a reminder to leave well enough alone,” Kakashi said, not unkindly.

Naruto dusted himself off and they continued on up the trail.

A few minutes later Sakura interviewed the boys to find out what their favorite tree was. Naruto and Sasuke weren’t sure, so they began to look at the different trees to pick out a favorite. If they didn’t know the name of a tree they liked, then they’d point it out and ask Sakura for the name. 

Kakashi paused, frowning. He heard something that didn’t quite sit well with him, a large rustling in the brush ahead. His eyes scanned left and right but he didn’t see anything. Then there was a movement in the brush, something large was coming through. 

A black bear waddled out of the bush and onto the path right at the bend ahead. Kakashi froze mid step. Naruto, who was directly behind him, ran into his back. He started to protest loudly when Kakashi reached back and grasped his arm in warning. Naruto, picking up that something was wrong, stopped and glanced around. Sakura started to squeal but Sasuke silenced her with a hand over her mouth.

Kakashi raised his lanky arms, standing on his tiptoes to make himself look as big as possible. He took a deep breath to shout at the bear when two fuzzy black cubs joined their mother on the path. The counselor turned almost as pale as his hair and his eyes grew wide. Black bears could usually be scared away but if they thought there was a threat to their cubs, a mother bear might do anything. 

The counselor said a harsh word that Naruto had heard his Dad say once, but didn’t know what it meant. The mother bear pawed the ground in front of her in agitation. She growled threateningly. Naruto took a step back. 

“Play dead, now!” Kakashi hissed. He dropped to the ground.

“Wha-what?!” Sakura shrieked, unable to contain her fear any longer as the bear began to lumber toward them. Naruto and Sasuke were right there with her, but their yells came out as incoherent babble.

“Gah, get down!” Kakashi gasped when he saw his campers standing there. He grasped Sakura, who was closest, and pulled her to the ground next to him. She clung onto him tightly, burying her face in his hoodie. Kakashi glanced up and realized that Naruto and Sasuke were still standing, paralyzed. He was reaching for Sasuke’s leg, hampered by Sakura’s hold on him, when the idea finally sunk into the boys’ brains. They joined their cabin-mates on the ground.

“Cover your head and neck and don’t move, no matter what!” Kakashi wanted to say more but they were out of time. He covered Sakura’s neck with his own arms and hunched his shoulders. The counselor waited, holding his breath.

The black bear stopped in her sluggish charge a few feet away from them. She roared at them and Kakashi grimaced when the boys shivered at the sound. He couldn’t blame them.

The bear sidled forward, grumbling in her throat. Kakashi closed his eyes and prayed. There was a soft poke at the hood of his sweatshirt and Kakashi squeezed his eyes shut. Sakura shivered under his arms. The bear sniffed around, the snuffling seemed a thousand times louder to the campers and their counselor. Both nostrils seemed to be making their own sound and Kakashi was all too aware of each breath as the mother took stock of the intruders.

Each poke had the possibility of teeth following it. A meaningless bat of one of her claws could cut him to ribbons. It was almost more than Kakashi could stand. Sakura suddenly became very still and a distant part of Kakashi’s brain wondered if she’d fainted. But no, she was still tensed up.

 _One_ , his mind whispered and he took a breath. The bear sniffed his shoulder. He repressed a shudder. _Two,_ he thought. His eyes were closed so tightly that there was a roaring in his ears. _If I can make it just one more moment._ _Three,_ the time between breaths took an eternity. Kakashi forced himself to relax his lids and he could hear the bear snorting again. _Four._

Suddenly, one of the cubs bawled and the mother bear wheeled around. She trotted back over to her babies and they hurried away. Kakashi didn’t relax for a second, listening intently for the final charge, the sound of his impending death. It never came.

There was the swish of brush as the bears moved off and then they were gone. Still, none of the youths moved for several minutes, everyone too frightened to dare. The bees buzzed and the birds sang. The wind blew and grass rushed. No one moved.

After what felt like hours, Kakashi found his voice. He licked his lips multiple times and whispered, “are you all okay?” His voice sounded scratchy, as if he hadn’t spoken in years.

At the sound of his voice, Sakura began to weep, her body shivering with sobs. Kakashi slowly raised his arms away from her neck and she looked up at him. Her look was met with the glassy black lenses of her counselor’s sunglasses. She could see herself reflected in them, pale and afraid. “I- I-”

Kakashi reached up and pushed his glasses up off of his face. The sunglasses nestled into his thick mane. Fragile black eyes met Sakura’s terrified green ones. “Just take a deep breath, we’re okay.”

Sakura did as she was told, taking shuddering breaths to calm herself. She wiped her eyes and turned to the boys. Sasuke said something quiet and reassuring to Naruto, their faces ashen. Naruto nodded in response but his trademark smile was still absent.

“Sasuke? Naruto?” Both boys looked up and met Kakashi’s concerned look.

Finally, Sasuke managed to whisper, “we’re okay.”

“I need to go back to the cabin Kakashi, I need some new pants,” Naruto said, his voice cracking.

“What a thing to say at a time like this,” Sasuke said, his voice swimming with possible tears. The boy abruptly closed his mouth and looked away. He hiccupped.

Naruto opened his mouth to reply but his eyes filled with tears and he quickly closed it.

Kakashi began raising himself shakily from the ground. He moved to stand but Sakura was still clinging to him like a burr. He gave her an awkward pat on the shoulder and looked at the boys again. “Come here, come on,” he waved them over.

Sasuke crawled on his hands and knees, still afraid to stand. Naruto half scooted half crab crawled over to their cabin-mate and counselor.

Kakashi opened his arms when they reached him and the boys fell into him, all three of the campers bursting into tears. Kakashi did his best to be reassuring, which wasn’t his strong suit in the best of circumstances. Still, he shushed them and patted them on their backs. He took a few slow breaths to steady himself, grateful to be alive.

Eventually with the sun low in the sky, the campers became aware that they were long overdue for the evening meal back at camp. Their hike was supposed to end a while ago. Naruto’s stomach rumbled.

Kakashi tried for a light chuckle and was pleased that it came out half-dignified. “We should be heading back, what do you say?” He looked around at the faces of his campers. They all had red eyes.

Sakura sniffed and wiped her nose. “We’d better.”

They got unsteadily to their feet, so long had they been sitting on the ground. Naruto took a few shaky steps and Sasuke grabbed his arm to steady him.

Kakashi, only recovering from the encounter slightly faster than his campers, said, “are you guys going to be able to make it back? I can-”

“Please don’t leave us!” Sakura gasped. She clutched her counselor’s arm with an iron grip.

Kakashi’s exposed eyes widened. “I was going to offer to carry one of you if you needed it.” Sakura deflated, relieved. “I can’t carry all of you though…”

“We’re okay,” Naruto assured, sounding calmer than before.

Sakura nodded, releasing the teen’s arm.

“Right,” Sasuke agreed.

The group turned back toward the camp and began making their way downhill rather than continuing on the loop trail they’d set off on. It was at this moment that Kakashi thought of his walkie-talkie. They didn’t normally use it to cover this kind of distance, chiefly it was used inside the camp proper. However, he reached down to his belt and pulled it out of its holster, turning it on to frequency one. The radio immediately began squawking. 

“This is Asuma, still no sign of them on the north trail. I’m heading back down to connect up with the main eastern branch.”

“I’ll see you there,” Kurenai responded. “Heading down that way now.”

Kakashi decided he’d better say something immediately. After only a moment to collect himself and decide what to say, he pushed the transmitter button. “This is Kakashi, checking in.” He released the button and waited.

There was dead silence for a second and then everyone began transmitting at once. Garbled snips of Asuma, Kurenai, and Guy’s boisterous shouts came out of the walkie talkie. Then everything was silenced as a message from the main receiver cut them all off. “Kakashi where have you been?” Then, “are your campers alright?” Tsunade barked over the wireless device.

Kakashi frowned under his mask and put the walkie to his mouth. “We’re heading back down to camp on the western game trail. My campers are alright.” After a beat he said, “we had a bit of a scare, there was a bear and cubs.”

There was silence for a moment and then Tsunade again, “do you need assistance? Are any of you hurt?”

Kakashi looked around at his campers. They gave him brave smiles and Naruto managed a thumbs up. Kakashi’s eyes crinkled into a proud smile. “We’re shaken but okay. We’re looking forward to seeing you.”

“Guy will meet you,” Tsunade responded. “I’m sure he’s already on his way. We’ll be glad to see you too. And Kakashi? Report to my office once you get here. We’ll have to call the rangers to report the sighting.”

“Yes ma’am,” Kakashi replied. He put the walkie back into its pouch but did not turn it off. He looked at his campers and, as he took them in, burst into a hearty chuckle. The three stared at the teen, afraid the strain had pushed him over the edge. Kakashi wiped a hand over the visible part of his face as if to clear the laughter away. Once he’d quieted himself, he said, “I made a huge mistake. But still…”

“What is it?” Sakura prompted.

Kakashi sighed. “When hiking, you should always tell someone where you’re going and how long you intend to be gone. I forgot this important rule and the camp staff was looking for us over the entire range of the park because of it. However,” he took a breath, “if they’d come straight up here they may have also encountered the bear and not been as lucky as us. Normally you can scare black bears away, but when it’s a mother with cubs, anything can happen.”

“So, rules aren’t important?” Naruto asked hopefully.

Kakashi shook his head. “No, rules are important but,” he held his index finger up, “they are not everything.”

The campers nodded and the four of them continued down the trail. 

As Tsunade had promised, they were soon joined by Guy. The energetic teen bounded up the path and they saw him long before they actually met him. “My rival!” Guy shouted at them, “it is a relief to see you and your campers well!” When Guy met them he gave Kakashi a hug and was shocked when his friend allowed it. Kakashi was so relieved to see his fellow counselor that he didn’t bother trying to avoid the embrace. The burden of responsibility was weighing heavily upon him and Guy’s presence eased the load. 

“We’re alright Guy, a little shaken up,” Kakashi said, feeling like he’d said it a thousand times already. “I’m sorry we worried you. I didn’t even think of the walkie-”

Guy waved off Kakashi’s apologies. “The important thing is that you’re all safe.”

Kakashi nodded while his campers remained silent. They began to head down the trail together. “Listen,” Kakashi said, “will you take care of them when I go to Tsunade’s office? She’ll want to hear more about what happened.” That got a reaction and all three campers looked up, concerned. “It’ll just be a few minutes,” Kakashi assured them. The counselor pulled his sunglasses back down out of his hair, looking at them with shaded eyes once more.

“Of course I will,” Guy said smiling at them. Sakura tentatively smiled back and relaxed.

Later, after Kakashi finished his meeting with Tsunade and got off of the phone with one of the local park rangers, he went by the fire pit to collect his campers. The dusty pre-teens were surrounded by their peers who were peppering them with questions. Their curiosity was contagious and their loud chatter could be heard all the way to the administration building.

Guy, Kurenai, and Asuma were sitting together on a log nearby, talking amongst themselves. When Kakashi appeared they stood up. 

Kurenai, newest to the group of counselors, spoke first. “Are you sure you’re alright? You gave us all quite a scare when you didn’t return. Then we heard about the bear. Guy says you’re fine but…” she trailed off.

Kakashi shrugged, “it wasn’t that bad in hindsight, not something I’d like to repeat though.” After a pause he said, “I think my cabin will have to skip stories, songs, and skits tonight. It’s been a long day.” He sighed quietly. The teen looked up and saw that the sun had only just started to set. Turning his eyes to see his camper’s faces, he could tell that they were beat. The hike along with the terror of their wildlife encounter had sapped their energy. He raised his voice to be heard over the din, “bed, all three of you.”

None of them argued although their friends protested bitterly. Kiba in particular practically howled until Kurenai rebuked him. With tired eyes on the ground, Kakashi’s campers made their way back to Ash Cabin. The other counselors didn’t question it when Kakashi left with them. It had been a long day for all of them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It’s almost impossible to have hard and fast rules about what to do if you encounter a bear. Although black bears are usually non-aggressive and can be scared away with signs of physical dominance or loud noises, anything can happen. Things can be especially unpredictable when there are bear cubs involved. Black bears have been known to attack although this is usually only when their food source is threatened and they’re hungry. Not all advice/survival rules work in every situation. Sometimes something works in one encounter with wildlife but doesn’t work in the next. Sometimes you see a threat but are in no danger at all. Sometimes you’re in real danger and never know it. Moral of the story: leave bears alone and be careful out there.


	6. Chapter 6

Eventually the excitement wore down from the bear incident, as the campers started calling it. When it was Ash Cabin’s turn to recite a campfire story, song, or skit, they decided to act out the story of their encounter. Since it was impromptu, this led to improvisation and a severe embellishment of the facts. Besides that, Sasuke and Naruto insisted on playing the parts of each other, so that the story ended up being who was more frightened while Sakura inserted some observations about trees. Kakashi had to reign his campers in every time they got too far from the truth. He had to admit, he was proud of them. 

000000

As the campers progressed into their second week of camp, Sakura noticed that they were spending more and more time practicing their canoe skills. Once it was clear from the swimming hour that everyone could, or had learned how to swim, the counselors led their campers around to the far side of the recreation and mess hall. There they found upside-down canoes stacked on racks for transport. Kakashi stepped forward and untied a canoe. He waved his campers over with a head tilt.

“On the count of lift,” Kakashi commanded, putting his hands on one end of the canoe. Taking the hint, Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke rushed forward and grabbed hold. “Lift.”

Ash Cabin awkwardly lifted their canoe off of the rack and headed, not straight to the water, but to the shack near the dock. Kakashi carried one end, Sakura held on in the middle, while Naruto and Sasuke fought over who got to carry the other end. The other campers were right behind them. Kakashi stopped at the shack, setting his end of the canoe down. He pulled a key from his pocket and unlocked the shack door, revealing stacks and stacks of orange life vests. He grabbed three small ones and one adult one, hooking them over his arm.

Kakashi turned around and raised an eyebrow at his campers. “What are you doing?” Naruto and Sasuke were still fighting over who got to carry the end of the canoe. This left Sakura attempting to hold the canoe up on her own. “Flip the canoe,” Kakashi ordered once they were looking at him. Once the canoe was right-side up, Kakashi threw the lifejackets in, along with the paddles he’d pulled from the shed. They then marched down to a section of beach that Kakashi led them to.

While the other counselors gathered their equipment, Kakashi showed his campers how to properly put on their life jackets.

“I feel silly,” Sakura complained.

“I feel squished,” Naruto added.

“If your jacket isn’t tight enough Naruto, it could slip right off or worst case, strangle you,” Kakashi warned.

Naruto paused. “Really?”

Kakashi shrugged. “Anything is possible.”

Sakura no longer had any comments about feeling silly in her life jacket. It helped that the other campers were now putting theirs on as well.

“Why do we always go first?” Sasuke asked.

“What do you mean?” Naruto countered.

Sasuke looked at the other cabins as they were assembling on their own sections of beach. “We almost always go first. After morning announcements they dismiss us based on which cabin is the quietest,” Sasuke glared pointedly at Naruto, “but when we do sports we’re almost always made the example. We were also the first to perform at campfire stories, songs, or skits.”

“Ah,” Kakashi replied, “well that’s because it’s alphabetical: Ash, Elm, Maple, and Oak. That’s why we always go first and Guy’s cabin comes after us. There used to be Birch, Cottonwood, Dogwood, Fir-” Kakashi cut himself off, the rest of the campers were assembled. “Alright you three, get in.” The campers scrambled into the canoe. Kakashi pushed off from the shore at the same time that the other counselors did. His feet only got a little wet as he sprang into the back end of the canoe, making it bob. They were on the lake, but after the initial launch, the canoes just sat in the water.

Sakura picked a paddle up from where she knelt in the center of the canoe. She handed one up to Sasuke, then Naruto. Kakashi grabbed a paddle of his own.

“Now,” he began, “when you paddle a canoe, you hold you paddle with two hands. One on the top,” he curled his right hand over the handle, “and one closer to the blade,” his left hand gripped the paddle about halfway down the shaft. “Sasuke, I know your left hand is dominant but we’ll all be switching hands as we go, so it doesn’t make that much of a difference.” Sasuke nodded. “I’ll be steering from the back and paddling every so often, but most of the work will be your responsibility.”

The three nodded but they had no idea how hard it would be. They had been paddling for half an hour but were only just in the middle of the lake. Guy’s boat had lapped them twice already.

“You three need to paddle together otherwise you’re just working against each other,” Kakashi explained for what felt like the tenth time. His steering kept them straight, which meant the paddling should be less work, but the boys were hopeless. “Sakura, why don’t you switch and let Sasuke lead this time?” The two carefully changed positions around Naruto. “Naruto, you need to follow the pace that Sasuke sets.”

“He’s too slow,” Naruto argued angrily.

“And Sakura exhausted herself trying to keep pace with you even though you were supposed to be following her,” Kakashi replied. “If you three can’t work together then this canoe is going nowhere.”

Guy’s cabin chose that moment to pass them a third time. “Hey Kakashi,” Guy called, “looks like I have the canoe race in the bag this year!”

“What canoe race?” Sakura asked.

“There’s a canoe race at the end of every session,” Kakashi explained. “You may remember Tsunade mentioning it the first day. Each cabin races out to a flag on the other side of the lake and brings it back. I want you to try your best but it isn’t that big of a deal if we lose.” Kakashi was about to leave it at that when he got an idea. “The canoe race,” he continued, “is based on a cabin’s teamwork. The counselors each help their cabins paddle but the changing variables each session are the campers, not us.”

“What do you mean?” Sakura asked.

Kakashi leaned forward, resting his paddle across his knees. “Asuma and Guy are physically stronger than I am, but due to that fact, they weigh more than I do, so their canoes sit deeper in the water and are slower. Kurenai is lighter than me but I have more upper body strength to paddle. Guy is overenthusiastic and usually overturns his boat at the turn. This session especially, Asuma has trouble motivating his campers and thus, can’t unite them. Kurenai and her cabin from this session are our biggest threat, from a standard race perspective. Her kids are all willing to work together.”

Sakura frowned. “And…not from a standard race perspective?”

Kakashi folded his hands between his knees. His mask shifted as he grinned. “There are no rules for the canoe race besides retrieving your flag and bringing it back. Guy can outswim most canoes and running around the lake takes too long. Believe me, it has been tried. Guy will start in his canoe but if his boat overturns, he will swim after whoever is in the lead and flip their canoe. It’s kind of tradition.”

Sakura’s eyes widened. She turned to the boys and lifted her paddle threateningly. “Listen up you two, I’ve tolerated your idiotic behavior so far, but if I get dunked because you two can’t out-paddle a counselor in a tracksuit, so help me, I will brain the both of you!”

The sunglasses hid Kakashi’s surprise. The mask hid his snicker as Sasuke and Naruto paled. The canoe lesson went better after that but better wouldn’t win them a race.

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There was something about hiking in the afternoon as the sun set. The orange sun seemed to set the forest ablaze with color, reflecting off of the shining green leaves and weaving patterns of light through the full branches. It was unlike the day hikes they’d done but it was Ash Cabin’s turn to camp out under the stars.

“Are you sure there won’t be any bears?” Sakura asked.

“There will be two rangers with us at the campsite,” Kakashi replied. He had been worried too, but the rangers had never failed him yet. “They stay up all night to keep an eye out for us. And it’s always been that way from year to year, it has nothing to do with our bear sighting,” he added before they felt self-conscious. He didn’t feel the need to add the possibility of mountain lions, wolves, or snakes, in addition to their bear concerns. That’s why the rangers stayed up all night watching over the campers, just in case.

“Here we are,” Kakashi announced as they entered a clearing. There was a fire pit dug into the ground with logs rolled up to it to act as seating. The grass had been mowed and looking up the trail, there was a ranger station and a jeep parked next to it. “We’ll meet the rangers in a bit. For now we can roll out our sleeping bags and start a fire.”

The campers began unstrapping their sleeping bags from their packs while Kakashi stacked some wood in the pit to build a fire. As the sun set, the fire grew. Once there were some hot coals to cook on, Kakashi pulled out apples, hotdogs, and marshmallows. He tossed an apple to each camper while he staked the hot dogs.

The juice from the heating hotdogs sizzled in the flames, spitting every so often. Naruto poked at the flames with a stick, taking it out every so often to admire the glowing tip. The burning logs fell a bit, sending dying sparks into the air.

They didn’t talk much, they didn’t need to. The stars were bright and the fire was warm against the cool evening.

The snap of a twig up the trail made the campers jump but Kakashi just smiled. “Hey Genma,” he called into the dark.

“How did you know it was me?” A man’s voice responded. A young man and woman in ranger uniforms stepped into the light of their campsite.

“Because Kakashi knows that I don’t make unnecessary noise,” Yugito replied, elbowing her colleague.

“Very funny, as if you would have seen that stick.” Genma turned to the campers. “Hey guys, I’m Genma, this is Yugito.” He gestured at his coworker with a hand. She nodded. “We’re going to be keeping an eye on things tonight so cut your counselor and us a break and don’t go sneaking off.”

“They won’t,” Kakashi assured the rangers. It wasn’t a threat or challenge so much as a statement of trust. Naruto beamed. 

“Sounds good,” Yugito said. “Kakashi, you know the drill. We’ll check in every half hour until the fire is out, then every hour after that. So kids, if you hear someone stepping on twigs,” Genma grimaced, “it’s probably just us popping down to see if you’re alright. If all goes well, we won’t talk until the morning so, have a good night!”

“Thank you,” the campers chorused. Kakashi waved lazily and the rangers headed back up to the station to continue their game of cards.

Once the last of the sticky marshmallows was consumed, the four settled into their sleeping bags. As the fire burned down the stars seemed to brighten, illuminating their clearing. It was a clear night with a new moon, perfect for camping under the stars.

“Kakashi?” Sakura asked after some time.

“Yes Sakura?” Kakashi replied. The boys turned a little in their sleeping bags to face their cabin-mate, wondering what she was going to ask after so long.

“What do you like?” Sakura finally asked.

“What do you mean?” Kakashi replied.

“Like, what do you like? What are your likes, dislikes? What are your hobbies? Stuff like that.” Sakura pressed.

Sasuke chimed in. “We’ve been here for a week and you haven’t noticed anything that he likes?”

Sakura frowned up at the sky. “That’s the thing. I do notice. Sasuke, you like bagels and your family, specifically your brother.” The truth of this observation brought Sasuke up short. Had he really mentioned that? “Naruto likes his Dad and food and, well, everything really.” Naruto nodded in agreement even though no one was looking at him. “But we don’t really know anything about what Kakashi likes.”

“We do,” Sasuke said, recovering. “Even if he doesn’t say anything, the other counselors do. Kakashi likes baking, and making bat houses, and making other people do stuff.” He trailed off lamely.

“No,” Sakura argued in a calm voice. “ _Kurenai_ said that Kakashi was a good baker, not that he enjoyed it. Kakashi makes bat houses because he’s made a lot of bird houses. And as far as making people do things, that’s mostly just you Sasuke.” Sakura rolled over to look toward their counselor, who was still watching the sky. “Besides reading, everything that we see him do is something that he’s _good at_ , but that doesn’t necessarily mean he enjoys it.”

The boys were looking at Kakashi now.

“People often enjoy doing things that are naturally aligned with their gifts,” Kakashi said into the sky.

“But not you?” Sakura pressed.

Kakashi was silent. Then, “I’m good at a lot of things.”

“If you don’t say so yourself,” Naruto huffed.

“I’m repeating a statement that I am often told,” Kakashi replied. “But Sakura’s right, ability does not always equal inclination. However, there is a sense of accomplishment felt when one does something well, whether that is earned or not.

“You three will find that sometimes you have to work hard to do something well while someone else will be able to do the same thing easily.” Naruto glanced at Sasuke but said nothing. Kakashi continued, “that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try, whether you’re gifted at something or not, you should work to improve yourself. While you sit idle, someone else is out there working hard. Their hard work _will_ catch up with your natural ability.” Kakashi thought of Guy but moved on. “They may not be skilled the same way you are, but not only will they have learned something about themselves, they will have earned that sense of accomplishment.” The fire burned out as Kakashi’s words hung in the air. The counselor rolled over, covering his head with the flap of his sleeping bag. A muffled, “good night,” was heard.

The campers replied in kind, laying back to watch the stars. It wasn’t until the next morning after saying goodbye to the rangers that Sakura realized: Kakashi still hadn’t answered her question. 

000000

Kakashi started hammering together his eighth bat house during arts and crafts. This late in the session, most of the campers knew what they wanted to be working on. Everyone was focused on finishing projects they’d already started, their craft boxes filling.

Sasuke wandered over to his craft box and looked inside. Kakashi watched out of the side of his sunglasses. Sasuke picked up his moccasins and began stitching the rest of the shoe together. He finished off and then looked at the roll of craft leather in the cupboard.

“Kakashi?” Sasuke suddenly asked.

Kakashi hummed in acknowledgement.

“Do you think I have enough time to make moccasins for my mother and father and brother?” Sasuke hesitated at the end, tagging his brother on at the last moment.

“You’ll have to estimate the size on the stencils,” Kakashi replied. “But considering how quickly you put together your own, the first time you tried, I’d say you could make it. You can always come back here during free time too.”

Sasuke got up and got the stencils out without a word. He laid everything out and began tracing his foot, making it a little larger to what he thought was his brother’s size. Kakashi smiled but said nothing. His bat house was coming together nicely. 

000000

The two weeks were almost over but that didn’t mean the camp didn’t have a few big events planned for the end of the session.

“We’re going to play capture the flag,” Tsunade announced. “This is a camp-wide event. The winning team will get a pizza party in their cabin for the evening meal. In the event of a tie, the winning teams will share a pizza party.”

“A rare occurrence but not unheard of, isn’t that right Kakashi?” Guy interjected. He wiggled his eyebrows at the lean counselor.

Kakashi tried not to sigh. 

“What’s he talking about Kakashi?” Sakura asked.

“Our final session as campers,” Kakashi explained, “before we aged out and became counselors, Guy’s cabin and mine tied in the capture the flag contest. He’s wanted to beat me, fair and square, ever since.”

“It was my last chance,” Guy proclaimed. “And it was taken from me!”

Lee looked like he may burst into tears. Tenten and Neji just looked embarrassed.

Tsunade cleared her throat, irritated at the interruption. All eyes went to her. “As I was saying, the winning cabin will receive a pizza party.” Many sets of eyes widened and smiles were exchanged at this news. Pizza would be especially great after the camp food. 

“Every cabin will have a flag that they will hide somewhere within the marked boundaries. Ibiki, Anko, Shizune, and I will be at the four corners of the boundary to be sure you stay in line. Your cabin will switch counselors to supervise you when you hide your flag to be sure there is no cheating. A part of your flag must be visible otherwise your team is disqualified. Your supervisor counselor will let you know if you’re doing anything else against the rules.

“For every flag collected and returned to your cabin, your team will receive one point. If your cabin’s flag is not captured by another team after an hour, you will be awarded two points. You will be given fifteen minutes to strategize in your cabins before you’ll be called out, team by team, to hide your flag.”

Shizune began handing out flags. Tsunade continued, “cabins will be called out in alphabetical order and given five minutes to hide their flags. Are there any questions?”

Sasuke accepted the silver scrap of cloth that would be their flag for the game. Sakura frowned at it. She raised her hand, “hold on, Ash, Elm, Maple, Oak, that means our cabin goes first. So the other cabins might see where our flag is hidden before we even start looking, since we’ll be hiding ours first. That doesn’t seem fair.”

“It may not be fair,” Tsunade said, “but if another team has time to see it in the five minutes they’re given to hide their own flag, yours wasn’t hidden very well, was it?”

“Besides I wouldn’t have mentioned the idea in the first place,” Shino chimed in. “Why? Because the other teams may not have thought to look for flags while hiding theirs. Now that you’ve mentioned it, they’ll be looking for sure.”

Sakura shrunk into herself a bit. Naruto clapped her on the back. “That’s okay Sakura, we’ll just hide ours really well.”

Sakura glanced in Sasuke’s direction. He wasn’t looking at her but he didn’t seem to be disgusted by her idiocy either. He was frowning at their surroundings, looking for a place where silver would blend in.

Tsunade was speaking again. “Maple and Ash cabins, you trade counselors and escort the teams back to their respective cabins. Elm and Oak, you two switch. We’ll contact you on your walkies when to bring the campers out.” Tsunade gave Kakashi a sharp look but he was already turning his walkie talkie on. Just the same, Kurenai double checked it to be sure that her campers wouldn’t be short changed on time due to Kakashi’s negligence.

Kakashi waved at his campers. “See you in a few.” He turned to Shino, Hinata, and Kiba to lead them back to Maple Cabin. Kurenai waved Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto back to Ash Cabin.

“Okay, so where do we hide it?” Naruto asked once they were back in Ash Cabin. Kurenai stood in the corner unobtrusively as they strategized.

“Silver,” Sasuke muttered, “why did it have to be silver? The other teams got natural colors at least.” He thought of the green, brown, and blue flags of the other teams. 

“We’ll figure something out,” Naruto said encouragingly. He looked at Sakura but she was worrying her lip.

“We could bury it,” Sakura mentioned at last.

“Part of it has to be showing,” Sasuke reminded her.

“There could be a corner of it unburied,” Naruto offered.

Sakura looked around the boys to the counselor. “Kurenai, how _much_ of the flag has to be showing?” 

“Rule of thumb,” Kurenai answered, holding up her thumb to demonstrate the size. “It was Guy’s idea.”

“It could be mistaken for a rock,” Sakura offered, turning back to her team.

Sasuke held up the flag, it was very bright. “Doubt it.”

Kurenai’s walkie talkie crackled to life. “Ash Cabin, time to hide your flag. Everyone else, face down on your cots, no peaking!”

“You heard her, let’s go.”

The Ash Cabin campers looked stricken. They filed out of their cabin, eyes darting around the expanse of the camp. Tsunade, Ibiki, Anko, and Shizune could be seen in the distance, marking the corners of the camp proper. There was so much open space, they’d only have time to run to a spot, plant the flag, and rush back. The only problem was, they hadn’t decided on a spot.

Naruto looked around, heart racing frantically. There had to be something. Then suddenly, his eyes caught on a flash of white, several flashes of white. Behind the recreation building but well within the boundary, stood a copse of white barked trees.

“Birch,” Naruto remembered suddenly from their nature hikes. Sakura had mentioned the tree several times when they’d been learning to identify the different trees. The white of the birch tree bark matched their flag exactly.

Sasuke looked up, following Naruto’s gaze. “The pale birch bark,” the youth muttered. “That’s it, good work Naruto!”

Sakura raced after the boys as they sprinted toward the bunch of trees. Kurenai followed at a slower pace, shaking her head. Kakashi’s kids were clever, she’d give them that.

The three campers arrived at the tree at about the same time. “We won’t want to put it at the eye line,” Sakura said. “It should be high or low on the tree.”

“I say low,” Sasuke commented. “High will be visible from farther away.” They picked a place on one of the trunks and tied the silver/white flag around the tree. The ends they tucked into the loose bark.

“That’s it, time to head back,” Kurenai said. “And I have no objections, you’re within the boundary and there’s definitely more than a thumb-sized piece visible. “

Sakura was suddenly nervous. They were, in essence, hiding their flag in the open, hoping that the color would conceal their flag. But there was no time to change it now. The three ran back to Ash Cabin. Once Kurenai had closed the door she got on her walkie talkie. “Ash Cabin campers have returned. Elm can head out.” She turned to the three campers. “Lay down on your cots, face-down. No peaking.”

The waiting was worse than the anxiety over where to hide their flag. Even though each cabin only got five minutes to hide their flag, it felt like a lot longer to the waiting campers. Finally the all clear came over the walkie talkies and all of the campers emerged.

Naruto immediately ran off, trying to look at everything at once. Sasuke and Sakura were more methodical, scanning the area and looking for anything inconsistent. It wasn’t long before Sakura’s eye caught on something. Their dilapidated porch looked different somehow. She turned and headed back to their cabin even as the other teams darted here and there, looking for flags.

Between the floorboards among the drooping lumber, was a speck of brown that didn’t quite belong. Sakura rushed forward and snatched up the brown flag of Maple cabin. She glanced around and then hurried inside Ash cabin to deposit the flag on Kakashi’s bunk, gaining their cabin a point. Sakura came out, huge grin on her face, but no one noticed. They were all too busy scouring the ground for the flags.

Naruto was back, face red but he was not out of breath. “I didn’t see anything but it doesn’t look like anyone else has seen anything either.”

“I’m not sure how you could notice anything, going so fast.” Sasuke muttered. He began to think out loud. “The blue one is probably down by the lake, the brown in the dirt somewhere, the green could be in the grass.”

“Or up a tree,” Sakura offered. She chose not to mention the brown flag just yet. The explanations could come later when time wasn’t slipping away from them.

Together they went down to the lake shore. Between the sand and reeds, there would be plenty of places to hide a flag but no luck.

A triumphant howl from near the flagpole got everyone’s attention. Elm’s green flag had been found. Kakashi didn’t look smug but Guy was crestfallen anyway. His team’s idea to hide their flag in the flagpole’s winch access door hadn’t been as inconspicuous as they’d thought. Kiba yanked the rest of the flag out of the hole and waved it as he sprinted back to Maple cabin.

“That leaves the blue and brown flags.” Sasuke commented.

“Just the blue,” Sakura cut in. They were alone, no chance of anyone overhearing. “I found the brown.”

“Really?” Naruto exclaimed. “That’s amazing Sakura! Where was it?”

Sakura looked at Sasuke shyly. She wanted him to be impressed. “It was hidden in the rubble of our porch.”

“That’s stupid,” Naruto said. “We were right there.”

“Exactly,” Sasuke replied. “They thought we wouldn’t be looking that close to our own cabin. Good catch Sakura.”

The girl glowed.

“We need to find that blue flag,” Naruto resolved. But it was not meant to be.

Half an hour later, the blue flag was pulled from the farthest downspout coming off of the office building. Since the weed whacking hadn’t been done around the administration building, and where the rain came off of the roof and onto the grass, making the grass grow longer, the flag had technically been visible, if you moved the tall grass aside. Guy’s campers were excited by their find, but not nearly as excited as Guy himself.

The Ash Cabin campers kept searching, unaware that their flag was the only one left unfound. Ash, Elm, and Maple had each found flags. If Oak, Asuma’s cabin, found Ash’s flag, then it would be a four-way tie. If Elm or Maple found Ash’s flag, then the win would go to either of them. However, if no one found Ash’s flag, then they’d win with the unfound flag bonus points.

The campers searched high and low, their running and searching becoming increasingly desperate. Guy was biting his nails, seated at the fire pit. Kakashi lounged passively. Kurenai and Asuma talked among themselves. Finally, Tsunade blew her whistle.

“Counselors,” she barked over the walkie talkie, “collect your campers and count their flags. If any flags are missing, check to see if any are still hidden.”

Kakashi ambled over to his campers. They looked worn out. Sakura’s loose hair stuck to her face and neck. The knees of Naruto’s pants were brown from him crawling around, attempting to get a lower view. “Have a good time?” 

Despite their haggard appearance, they all smiled at their counselor. They’d missed him, strangely enough. “Yeah,” Naruto said. “But we don’t really know what the other teams were doing.”

“It’s better that way,” Kakashi said. “Good for suspense. Did you find anything?” He asked as they got back to Ash Cabin.

“Sakura found the brown flag,” Sasuke offered. The girl grinned.

“Good job,” Kakashi praised.

“Naruto thought of a good hiding place for our flag,” Sakura added. “We tied it around one of the birch trees.”

Kakashi nodded in appreciation. “That’s good problem-solving. None of the flags are meant to blend in perfectly. The area is too big, it’d be too hard to find any of them in an hour.”

They got into the cabin and Kakashi radioed in the found brown flag.

“My campers found Elm’s green flag,” Kurenai reported.

“My campers found Oak’s blue flag,” Guy quickly replied.

Asuma reported that his Oak Cabin campers hadn’t found any flags.

Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke looked at each other. Their hearts soared. Kakashi pushed the call button. “I’ll go confirm with my campers that their flag is still where they left it.” It was hard to tell with the medical mask, but the campers thought that Kakashi may be smiling at them.

They trooped outside and Naruto excitedly showed Kakashi the trees. Their flag was still tied around the thin birch tree, perfectly concealed among the trunks of white bark. Kakashi radioed in the results to Tsunade.

“Ash Cabin wins the capture the flag competition,” Tsunade announced. “They will have their pizza party tonight.”

The three campers whooped. “Well done you three,” Kakashi praised.

000000

It was a cozy evening in Ash Cabin that night. Shizune and Ibiki brought over cans of soda pop to choose from, along with the pizza that had been delivered from the next town over. The cheese was hot and the pepperoni glistened. The three campers dove in, savoring the greasy meal. There was nothing quite like a pizza party. Even Kakashi took part. When he removed his sunglasses and medical mask, they stared at him for a few seconds.

“What?” He asked, pizza slice halfway to his mouth. “I can live a little, can’t I?”

“I thought camp food was a rite of passage?”

Kakashi smiled and Sakura wondered why he kept his face covered. “I’ve had more camp food than you three could ever dream about. But tonight, we have pizza, so let’s enjoy it.”


	7. Chapter 7

The last day of camp, the day before the parents came back to collect their children, was the camp-wide canoe race. It was a tradition upheld even longer than the capture the flag competition, which had been added later.

The four cabins went down to the shore with their canoes and prepared for launch. Just before the race, Sakura had something to say to their counselor. 

“Kakashi,” Sakura said as they grasped their paddles. “We want to work together; we want to show you that we can! And we want to thank you for…for everything.” 

The boys nodded. “Besides,” Naruto added, “the other campers keep taunting us. They said we won capture the flag but we can’t win the canoe race.” Naruto thought about how the other canoes had rushed past them when they practiced on the lake together. “They say we’re so bad that we can’t win, even with you helping us, and the other counselors say you’re the best at this.”

“But you haven’t been helping us,” Sasuke accused. “The whole time we’ve been practicing, you’ve only steered. I saw the other teams practicing, their counselors were paddling hard. You act like you’re paddling, but you hardly put your paddle in the water.”

“Is that what you think?” Kakashi asked. The three nodded. _So they figured it out._

“Will you help us win, please?” Sakura asked. “If we all work together, I think we can do it.” 

Kakashi smiled at them.

Tsunade raised the flag. “On your marks.”

Kakashi looked out over the water at the flag in the distance and smiled. It was a small, contented smile. He looked back at his campers. “Okay, listen up. Our best chance of winning is to have clear direction. If I tell you to do something, you need to do it okay?” Three nods answered him.

“Get set.”

“Sasuke,” Kakashi called up front. “You need to set our pace. Naruto, you’re stronger than Sasuke but you’ll burn out quicker. You have to follow his lead; he has more experience pacing himself.” The boys reluctantly nodded. “Sakura, you have the most multitasking to do. Pull as hard as you can while also keeping time with the boys and watching to see what the other canoes are doing. You three have to paddle together, it’s our best chance. I’ll steer and paddle when I can. I’ll call out when we should alternate.”

They all nodded, turning to face the flag across the lake.

“Go!” 

All four canoes jumped forward as the paddlers dug in to their work. Kureani’s cabin pulled ahead right away. Kiba was setting the pace and Shino and Hinata worked hard to keep it up. Asuma was having trouble motivating his campers to do anything. He yelled at the boys from the back while Ino yelled at them from the front. Shikamaru looked like he wanted to jump ship. Guy called encouragement to his team, but he was also standing in his canoe, putting his entire body into it. Each of Guy’s strokes made the boat wobble.

Kakashi took all this in at a glance, it was similar to what had happened in other sessions before. He didn’t have this team before though. Once Naruto and Sasuke’s rhythm matched, their canoe powered through the water.

“Switch,” Kakashi called. His campers lifted their paddles out of the water, alternating the side they paddled on. They were cruising, going faster than they ever had during practice. Each time Kakashi paddled their canoe shot forward.

“Elm Cabin is catching up,” Sakura called over the wind. Once Guy’s campers were working together, they were flying after Ash Cabin. Kurenai’s Maple campers were right behind with Asuma and Oak Cabin trailing.

“Keep it steady,” Kakashi advised, keeping his breathing even. “Don’t get sidetracked.” He steered with his paddle, keeping them as straight as possible. When Sasuke’s pace lagged, Kakashi put in a few strong strokes of his own, pushing them through the water.

A long rope had been strung across the far end of the lake. Each cabin’s flag waved in the breeze roughly 15 feet apart on the rope. “Sasuke, the rope is going to be low when we get to our flag. When we get there, I need you to lift the rope so we don’t get tangled up. Do NOT grab the flag. Sakura, capturing the flag is your responsibility. Naruto, Sakura is your responsibility. She will be focused on grabbing the flag, which means she may have to stand and stretch out over the water. You need to keep her in the boat, even when it starts to tip.”

“WHEN it starts to tip?” Sasuke called out, incredulous.

“Yes.” For a moment it seemed like that was all Kakashi was going to say. Then, “while you three work together to capture the flag, I’ll be turning us around to paddle back. When I say lean right, I MEAN lean right.”

Sakura started to sweat as they paddled closer and closer to the other side of the lake. It didn’t even matter what the other teams were doing, she was hyper focused on the silver flag. When it seemed they couldn’t get much closer, they did, over and over again. The flag was practically on top of them and still they got closer.

Kakashi called, “are you ready Sasuke?”

Sasuke nodded. He put his paddle across his knees. Bracing one hand on the canoe, he reached up and lifted the rope as they passed under.

It all happened so fast, but it always did. The rope was up and the canoe glided under it. Sakura reached out for the flag. Kakashi gripped his paddle, eyes on Sakura, and then, she had it! “Lean right!”

Naruto pulled Sakura back down into her seat, upsetting his paddle. It flipped into the lake as Kakashi dug his paddle into the water with all the force he had. Sasuke grasped the right side of the canoe while also holding the rope aloft. The canoe pivoted dangerously on the point where Kakashi held his paddle steady, throwing foam in an arc. The turn pulled them nearly to a dead stop but they did not flip over.

“Pull,” Kakashi called once they were facing the shore from which they’d come. The return journey lay before them.

“I’m sorry Naruto,” Sakura cried. His paddle was well beyond reach. Sasuke was paddling furiously, trying to build up speed. “Here,” she said, shoving her paddle into Naruto’s hands, “you’re stronger than me.”

“What are you two doing back there?” Sasuke cried. Now that they were facing back toward the start, they could see the other teams zooming toward their flags as well.

“Pull,” Kakashi called again. “We don’t have time to get Naruto’s paddle. Sakura, hang onto that flag and act as lookout. Call out what the other teams are doing.”

Sakura sat down as low in the canoe as possible and kept her eyes open. Elm Cabin also tried the dangerous pivoting maneuver that Kakashi had done. However, Guy was still standing up. Lee, imitating him, was also standing and together they flipped the boat with their enthusiasm.

“Elm Cabin is out; they’ve flipped their boat!” Sakura shouted in glee.

Kakashi chanced a look back. “Naruto, Sasuke, if you want to stay dry, pull as hard as you can!”

Sakura turned back to look at their counselor, who was looking a bit flushed under his mask. “What are you saying? They’ll be too far behind.” The boys wondered the same thing.

“Believe me when I say, Guy can outswim a canoe,” Kakashi replied. He dug his paddle deep into the water with strong strokes, causing mini whirlpools in their wake. “There are no rules to this race besides return the flag. If Guy catches up, he WILL flip our canoe.”

“What?” Naruto cried out in protest. He started paddling at twice the speed he was before.

“Stay calm,” Kakashi ordered. “Follow Sasuke’s pace.”

When he heard that, Sasuke felt the pressure and increased the pace. He doubled it again when he heard Sakura cry, “they’re following us!”

“It’s kind of a fun camp tradition,” Kakashi spoke again. Even he was starting to sound winded. “If your canoe flips, you try to flip as many other canoes as possible.”

“That…is a…stupid tradition,” Sasuke called between gasps.

“It’s all in good fun,” Kakashi assured his campers. “And what did I say about being disrespectful?” 

“Why are they going for us?” Naruto cut in.

“Not just us,” Sakura corrected. Lee, Tenten, and Neji were rocking Oak Cabin’s boat, which had fallen behind. Shikamaru finally gave up and dove into the lake preemptively. Ino threw her paddle after him in fury. Guy was still making a beeline for Ash Cabin’s canoe. “Guy is coming right for us!”

“Almost there,” Kakashi encouraged. They were less than ten feet from the finish line. Kakashi glanced back. Guy was only a few strokes behind.

They were only five feet away when Kakashi felt the canoe under him give a lurch. Guy gripped the back of their canoe with both hands. The awkward weight made the canoe wobble. Sakura gasped. Naruto and Sasuke continued to paddle but their progress had gone from feet to inches per stroke. Maple Cabin was catching up.

Guy pulled down on the right side, trying to tip the canoe. Naruto and Sasuke shouted and leaned left. Sakura held on to the edges of the canoe, willing it to stay steady. Without a backward glance, Kakashi shoved his paddle into Sakura’s hands and flipped into the water, dunking Guy on the way down. Guy’s grip broken, Ash Cabin’s canoe jumped forward and the three campers, with their silver flag in hand, zoomed through the finish line.

“Ash Cabin is the winner,” Tsunade declared.

Kurenai cried foul but only halfheartedly. She knew that the entire cabin didn’t need to pass through the finish line, only the flag needed to be returned to win.

Sakura hugged Naruto and Naruto high-fived Sasuke. Then the three looked back for their counselor. 

Kakashi and Guy, soaked to the skin, waded through the shallows and stepped onto the shore. “Well Kakashi, you’ve beaten me again.” He slapped his friend on the back.

Kakashi winced at Guy’s friendly pat. “My cabin won, not me.”

“Still, it was a valiant effort.”

Kakashi shrugged, not agreeing or disagreeing. That’s when his campers attacked.

“We did it we did it!” Sakura jumped and hugged Kakashi, ignoring the lake water that was dripping off of him. The boys were not far behind. Guy left them to their victory. He had to see that his own campers made it out of the water. The canoe that Neji, Tenten, and Lee had worked to flip was now towing them in, laughing the whole way.

“Good work, all of you,” Kakashi said. “Now some of us,” he ruffled Naruto’s hair, dripping lake water all over him, “need to go dry off.”

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The last campfire was bittersweet. Instead of a story, song, or skit being performed, everyone shared their favorite memory about camp that year. It made Naruto’s heart ache, this little family breaking up. Something happened at camp when you spent time all day and all night with the same people. It was a closeness he’d never felt before. It was different than the love of his family but still strong and unbreakable. They would always have this time to look back on, to remember. He could tell his father about every moment at camp, but it wouldn’t be the same as talking about it with Sakura or Sasuke or even Kakashi. This was their time, and now it was over.

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The next day, parents and guardians came to collect their children. The counselors helped carry the craft boxes out to the cars. The campers hauled their duffle bags.

The campers of Ash Cabin said their last goodbyes. It was like leaving a contained dream life and returning to reality. Naruto couldn’t wait to tell his Dad about everything that had happened. There had been the bear, and the three-legged race, capture the flag and the pizza party, the canoe race and the free swims. On second thought, maybe he wouldn’t mention the bear. He didn’t want Iruka to worry.

Sakura had a spring in her step. She held her head high as she waved at her parents.

“So, did you have a good time at camp Sasuke?” His mother asked once they were settled in the car. Sasuke’s craft box sat in the backseat; four pairs of moccasins were nestled inside.

Sasuke looked out the window. In the distance, he could see Kakashi mending the porch of Ash Cabin. Then his eyes traced the edge of the lake to the woods beyond. “I did,” he finally replied. He turned to his mother. “Can I go back next year?”

She smiled. “Sure dear, of course.”

The End


End file.
